(March 27, 2011) Audi once again sold more automobiles with all-wheel drive than any other premium manufacturer. The brand with the four rings produced 437,792 vehicles with quattro drive last year.

In the year in which Audi celebrated “30 years of quattro,” around 38 percent of all cars produced worldwide were equipped with the all-wheel drive technology.

The most popular Audi model with quattro drive in 2010 was the Audi Q5, 155,025 units of which were built. In the months ahead, the brand will further expand its all-wheel drive lineup in the SUV segment with the Audi Q5 hybrid quattro and the compact Q3.

But it is not just SUV drivers who are turning to quattro; the all-wheel drive technology is a popular choice of Audi customers for all other model lines as well. From the Audi A3 to the A8, nearly one quarter of the automobiles produced in 2010 had quattro on board.

Audi Q5 most popular
model with quattro

“quattro is one of the Audi brand’s greatest success stories, and today we are writing what may well be its most exciting chapter,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. “As we move down the road toward electric mobility, we see entirely new possibilities for quattro technology. The electric quattro of the future will be even more agile, safer and — above all — more efficient,” adds Schwarzenbauer.

Audi customers today can choose from more than 130 quattro model variants, taking all the different body types, engine versions and transmission options into account. Audi thus offers by far the widest range of all-wheel drive models in the premium segment.

There are also a number of technical solutions for delivering power to all four wheels. Behind the successful quattro principle are four different technologies, which Audi is constantly refining in order to build the ideal all-wheel drive system for each vehicle concept. The latest evolutionary stage of the quattro system featuring a crown-gear center differential and torque vectoring is available in the Audi RS 5, A7 Sportback and the new A6.