Report: Audi building business case for limited-edition Quattro concept

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Audi

Audi Quattro Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

Audi stunned us at this month’s Paris Motor Show when it unveiled the Quattro concept – an homage to the original Ur-Quattro that pioneered the automaker’s now-signature all-wheel-drive system. It shares its underpinnings with those found on the hot RS5 coupe, packs 408 horsepower and weighs less than 3,000 pounds. Talk about impressive.

We certainly wouldn’t be opposed to a production version, and according to Autocar, that dream may become a reality. Audi has reportedly been advancing plans for a limited production run of the Quattro, assembled on a dedicated line at parent company Volkswagen‘s newly acquired design firm, Italdesign. Stefan Reil, head of development at Audi’s Quattro Gmbh division, told Autocar that the automaker is “rethinking standard processes to make it possible,” and that Audi “know[s] how to engineer it already.”

If the Quattro concept gets the green light, power would likely come from a tuned version of the turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five found in the TT RS, producing somewhere around 350 horsepower. It’s not the 408 that Audi originally quoted, but if the sub-3,000-pound weight is kept in order, it should still make for one heck of an interesting performer.

Hurry up and build it, Audi. We’ll have our BMW 1M ready for the comparison test.

Gallery: Paris 2010: Audi Quattro Concept