QUATTRO is Audi’s unique four-wheel drive system, pioneered by and fitted to the original Audi Quattro in the early eighties. It differed from other all-wheel-drive set-ups of the time, because rather than using a traditional transfer box, the first-generation system used two driveshafts: a traditional one for the front wheels, and another hollowed-out one, connected to a central locking differential, and powering the rear wheels.
The system has been gradually refined and improved upon over time. In 1987, for example, a torque-sensing central differential was added that, rather than distributing power 50:50 all of the time, could send as much as 75 per cent of power to either axle to provide optimum traction. Now, with the advent of Auto e-tron quattro models, power is provided by two electric motors, one…
