Audi Sport GmbH, formerly known as quattro GmbH,Audi-Mediacenter
Retrieved 30 November 2016 is the high-

performance car {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A performance car is a car that exhibits above-average capabilities in one or more of the following areas: acceleration, top speed, cornering and braking. It is debated how much performance is ...

manufacturing subsidiary of

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, a subsidiary of the

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

. Founded in October 1983 as quattro GmbH, it primarily specialises in producing high performance Audi cars and components, along with purchaser specified customisations. The company's former name was an homage to Audi's original

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

-inspired road car—the

Audi Quattro The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991. Background The wo ...

. In 2016, the company was renamed Audi Sport GmbH. It is located in a site at

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

, near Stuttgart, in the German State of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. With over twenty years experience, their own development and manufacturing

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

are based within the larger site of the now defunct German automotive maker (and

Wankel Wankel may refer to: * Wankel engine, a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design instead of reciprocating pistons * Wankel AG, a German company that produces Wankel engines for ultralight aircraft and racing cars People ...

pistonless rotary engine A pistonless rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that does not use pistons in the way a reciprocating engine does. Designs vary widely but typically involve one or more rotors, sometimes called rotary pistons. Although many differen ...

pioneer)

NSU Motorenwerke AG NSU Motorenwerke AG, or NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. Acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969, VW merged NSU with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, ultimately Audi. The nam ...

(NSU. This is now known as Audi's "aluminium plant", or

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

site. Although "quattro GmbH" as a company may be relatively unknown, compared to its parent, Audi, its core products include the

Audi RS4 The Audi RS 4 is the high-performance variant of the Audi A4 range produced by Audi Sport GmbH for AUDI AG, a division of the Volkswagen Group. It sits above the Audi S4 as the fastest, most sports-focused car based on the A4's "B" automobile pla ...

, the

Audi RS6 The Audi RS 6 is a high-performance variant of the Audi A6 range, produced by the high-performance subsidiary company Audi Sport GmbH, for its parent company Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, from 2002 onwards. The first and se ...

and the

Audi R8 The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufac ...

. Furthermore, it is a 'closed company', in that it does not sell its

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

s directly to the public via franchised outlets under its own

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...

name; instead, they are sold under the Audi

marque A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. However, it does now sell 'quattro GmbH' branded lifestyle products and accessories via Audi franchised outlets and Audi Forum such as that located in the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Fußball Arena München for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterio ...

on the northern outskirts of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany.

Business areas

Audi Sport GmbH specialises in four 'key' areas, including the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, testing and

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

of specialist and high performance Audi

s, such as the

Audi RS3 RS3 or RS-3 may refer to: Vehicles Automobiles * Audi RS3, a 2011–present German compact performance car * Baojun RS-3, a 2019–present Chinese subcompact SUV Other * RS3 (sail), a windsurfing sail * ALCO RS-3, diesel locomotive built by Am ...

, Audi RS5,

Audi RS7 RS7 or RS-7 may refer to: * Audi RS 7, a 2013–present German performance executive car * Baojun RS-7, a 2020–present Chinese mid-size SUV * Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who ...

, Audi RS Q3, Audi RS Q8, Audi TTRS and the

. They also design and specify roadwheels, and design and produce sports suspension, and the specialist car body parts (such as front bumpers and splitters, side skirts, rear bumpers and diffusers, and rear spoilers) which are mainly used on the Audi "S line" trim specification available on most of the model range.

RS cars

The Audi RS cars have technology and performance comparable with high performance

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s such as the Porsche 911. Being based on conventional saloon (sedan) or estate (station wagon) cars, RS models also retain the everyday comfort and practicality of regular mainstream

models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

. They are some of the most powerful

vehicles A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...

ever offered by

. quattro GmbH create,

develop Develop or DEVELOP may refer to: * ''Develop'' (magazine), a trade publication for the video game industry * ''Develop'' (Apple magazine), a technical magazine formerly published by Apple Computer * Develop (chess), moving a piece from its origina ...

and

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables (grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and g ...

all RS models in conjunction with parent, AUDI AG. The "RS" initials are taken from the german: RennSport – literally translated as "racing sport". RS is Audi's highest trim level, positioned above the " S" ("Sport") specification level of Audi's regular model range. RS cars are usually produced in limited numbers over a limited time scale (historically, nearing the end of the production run of a certain model, before a new evolution or generation of the same model), and

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

some of Audi's latest and most advanced

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

prowess; therefore, "RS" cars could be described as (and are often marketed via television advertising as) "halo vehicles". Whilst RS cars generally command a much higher purchase price, compared to their 'lesser' brethren, they also retain very high

residual value ''Residual value'' is one of the constituents of a leasing calculus or operation. It describes the future value of a good in terms of absolute value in monetary terms and it is sometimes abbreviated into a percentage of the initial price when the i ...

s too.

S line

S line is a trim specification that is offered on many Audi models. Whilst the individual S line parts and components are designed and manufactured by quattro GmbH, Audi "S line" cars are still manufactured in the same AUDI AG factories, on the same production lines as their related models with differing trim levels. Cars with "S line" trim should not be confused with high performance "S" and "RS" models. Audi cars with S line trim bear identical performance figures to their counterparts with SE or base trim levels, with the exception of the Audi Q7 S line with the 3.0 V6 TFSI petrol engines ( for standard, for S line).

Audi exclusive

quattro GmbH offers potential purchasers of new Audi cars the possibility of customising their new car beyond the scope of "conventional" options, to their own personal desires during the initial manufacturing process. This facility is called Audi exclusive, and extends to virtually all areas of the car. The customer may choose unique exterior paint, in any colour, as well as

alloy wheel In the automotive industry, alloy wheels are wheels that are made from an alloy of aluminium or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of a metal and other elements. They generally provide greater strength over pure metals, which are usually much soft ...

s originally developed by quattro GmbH. For the interior, the upholstery can be finished in various grades and grains of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

s (including

Nappa Nappa may refer to: Places * Nappa, Finland, a village in northern Kymenlaakso *Nappa, North Yorkshire, a village in England * Nappa Hall, North Yorkshire, England People * Mike Nappa (born 1963), American author Other uses * Nappa (chara ...

), in a choice of colours. These coloured leathers may also be applied to interior door coverings and rear parcel shelves. Headlining fabrics can be customised in colour, along with seat belt webbing. The interior can be finished with a wide selection of wooden trims, sourced from around the world, along with colour coordinated piping on the edges of tailored floor carpet mats. A range of in-car

office equipment Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies o ...

is also available. quattro GmbH first offered this service at the 1995 Frankfurt International Motor Show.

Audi lifestyle / Audi Accessories

From 1985, quattro GmbH have developed a range of Audi lifestyle products, known as Audi Accessories. These include mountain bikes and personal leather goods, such as

briefcase A briefcase is a narrow hard-sided box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name. Businesspeople and other white collar pr ...

s, handbags, purses and

wallet A wallet is a flat case or pouch often used to carry small personal items such as paper currency, credit cards; identification documents such as driver's license, identification card, club card; photographs, transit pass, business cards and ...

Car production

quattro GmbH has historically only been able to produce one specific model at a time at its sole plant at Neckarsulm. Chronologically, the first quattro GmbH model produced was the

Audi RS2 Avant The Audi RS 2 Avant, usually known as Audi 80 RS 2, was a limited edition, high-performance Audi five-door, five-seat estate car (station wagon), manufactured from March 1994 to July 1995.ETKA official factory data Collaboratively designed as ...

, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between Porsche and quattro GmbH, from 1994–1996 (and actually built at Porsche's Zuffenhausen plant). After this initial joint venture, all subsequent cars have been solely (with the exception of the Audi TT RS) produced at Neckarsulm by quattro GmbH. The second car was the C4 S6 Plus, produced from April 1996 to July 1997. Third was the 2000–2001 B5 RS4 Avant quattro; fourth was the 2003 C5 RS6 quattro; fifth was the 2005 B7 A4 DTM Edition saloon. Sixth out of quattro GmbH was the 2006 B7 RS4 quattro, seventh out of quattro GmbH was the 2006 B7 S4 25 Quattro, the eighth was a special edition A4 S-Line with and additional options for local markets – for example the UK 'Special Edition' with black optics pack, ventilated cross-drilled front disc brakes, black exhaust pipes, two tone leather interior – and the Swedish 'TS' designation with ventilated cross-drilled front disc brakes, S4 chassis, sport seats and aluminum interior detailing, and as of 2009, the ninth and latest offering is the 2008 C6 RS6 5.0 TFSI quattro. In 2005 they built an Audi TT quattro sport with 176 kW. The

is built in a new and totally separate quattro GmbH plant at Neckarsulm. The latest Audi TT RS and the

are both notable departures from this Neckarsulm-only production tradition. Whilst the TT RS and RS3 were wholly designed, developed and engineered at Neckarsulm by quattro GmbH, they are manufactured alongside the non RS Audi models, with the TT RS being manufactured at

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, by AUDI AG subsidiary Audi Hungaria Motor Kft.

ETKA ETKA is the official electronic parts catalogue for Volkswagen Group motor vehicles. Launched in 1989, ETKA superseded the older parts books and microfilm-based catalogues. ETKA is an abbreviation from the german: Elektronischer Teilekatalog. It ...

quattro GmbH-produced cars from Neckarsulm can be identified by their specific 2nd and 3rd digit of the World Manufacturer Identifier section of the vehicles'

Vehicle Identification Number A vehicle identification number (VIN) (also called a chassis number or frame number) is a unique code, including a serial number, used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles, towed vehicles, motorcycles, scooters ...

(VIN) – quattro GmbH manufactured cars begin with 'WUA....', whereas cars produced by AUDI AG in Germany begin with 'WAU....'.

Audi R8

The Audi R8 two-seat

mid-engined In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

was exclusively designed and developed and is produced by quattro GmbH. An old factory on the Audi

site was redeveloped, and

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

28millon was invested in the new R8 production line. Around 250 employees work on this car. The longitudinally oriented 4.2

litre The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3 ...

Fuel Stratified Injection Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection (PDI), is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline (petrol), where fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. This is distinct fro ...

(FSI)

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

used in the R8, rated at and of torque, is shared from the B7 RS4 quattro, but modified to use a

dry sump A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a con ...

lubrication system and induction system. A subsequent

V10 engine A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been prod ...

d version of the R8 is also available, using a de-tuned version of their sister company's 5.2-litre FSI V10, used in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. This variant produces and of torque. Furthermore, quattro GmbH unveiled a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

d R8

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by ...

, the "R8 V12 TDI" (later renamed "R8 TDI Le Mans"). This was to use a 6.0-litre

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The f ...

, utilising

's long-established

Turbocharged Direct Injection TDI (Turbocharged Direct Injection) is Volkswagen Group's term for its current common rail direct injection turbodiesel engine range that have an intercooler in addition to the turbo compressor. TDI engines are used in motor vehicles sold by th ...

(TDI)

turbodiesel The term turbo-diesel, also written as turbodiesel and turbo diesel, refers to any diesel engine equipped with a turbocharger. As with other engine types, turbocharging a diesel engine can significantly increase its efficiency and power output ...

technology. This engine was rated at and of torque.

Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro

quattro GmbH has developed the most powerful diesel powered

sport utility vehicle A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...

(SUV) in its class. The Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro is fitted with a

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...

(TDI)

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...

. A world first, this all new

displaces 6.0

s, generating a motive

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

output of (measured according to

Directive 80/1269/EEC Council Directive 80/1269/EEC of 16 December 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the engine power of motor vehicles is a European Union law concerning measurement of engine power in motor vehicles intended fo ...

) at 4,000

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

, and of

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

at 1,750–3,000 rpm. This allows it to accelerate from in 5.5 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to . quattro GmbH have developed this new engine using existing technology from

's Le Mans endurance racing programme – the Audi R15 TDI.

Comparisons to other brands

Audi Sport GmbH is related to Audi in a similar manner to other German car manufacturers' "performance divisions" – such as " Mercedes-AMG GmbH" and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, "

BMW M GmbH BMW M GmbH, formerly known as BMW Motorsport GmbH, is a subsidiary of BMW AG that manufactures high-performance cars. BMW M ("M" for "motorsport") was initially created to facilitate BMW's racing program, which was very successful in the 1960 ...

" and BMW, " Volkswagen R GmbH" and

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

, or " Opel Performance Center GmbH" and Opel. A similar operation called "Volkswagen Individual GmbH", founded February 2003, is provided for Audi's

sister company Volkswagen Passenger Cars at

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

. Volkswagen Individual GmbH produce the Volkswagen "R" series of cars, including the

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

R32 and the latest Passat R36, and are also able to provide purchaser requested customisations under the "Volkswagen Individual" label, similar to "Audi exclusive", during the initial factory manufacturing process. This service is also offered routinely to purchasers of Volkswagen Passenger Cars 'flagship' models – the Phaeton and the

Touareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berbers, Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to sou ...

, at their respective production plants.

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Companies based in Neckarsulm

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

Volkswagen Group factories Official motorsports and performance division of automakers Heilbronn (district) Audi in motorsport