The Italian Audi That Defied Its Era: The Story of the Five-Cylinder Quartz Concept

Designed by Pininfarina and based on the legendary Audi Quattro, the Quartz was a revolutionary concept car that anticipated design and engineering solutions decades ahead of its time.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Audi and Pininfarina joined forces to create one of the most fascinating concept cars in the brand’s history. The Audi Quartz Concept, developed in 1980 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Swiss magazine Automobil Revue, was conceived as an extreme design exercise, but also as a forward-looking technical showcase. Its origins are directly linked to the impact made by the newly launched Audi Quattro at that year’s Geneva Motor Show.

The inspiration was immediate. Battista “Pinin” Farina saw in the Quattro a perfect mechanical base for a radical project. Audi accepted the challenge and supplied a complete Ur-Quattro without its bodywork, on which the Italian team began its work. The goal was not to reinterpret the German design, but to create an Audi with an Italian soul, combining aerodynamic innovation, advanced technology and real-world usability.

Advanced inside and out

Throughout 1980, Pininfarina developed an entirely new body, around 30 centimetres shorter than that of the original Quattro. The result was a car refined in the wind tunnel, achieving a drag coefficient of 0.45, an outstanding figure for the era. Despite its experimental focus, the Quartz retained rear seating and a small boot, something highly unusual for an early-1980s concept car. Details such as the integrated air intakes between the headlights and the compact 75 mm lighting units highlighted a vision well ahead of its time.

Beneath the bodywork, the Quartz preserved Audi’s mechanical essence. Thanks to the use of carbon fibre and a sandwich-type structure, weight was reduced by around 90 kg compared to the Quattro, resulting in a total mass of 1,315 kg. At its heart remained the 2,144 cc turbocharged five-cylinder engine, producing 200 hp and 285 Nm, paired with the permanent quattro all-wheel-drive system that was already beginning to build Audi’s legend on the road and in the World Rally Championship.

The interior blended modern design with full functionality, retaining all the key components of the Quattro within a completely redesigned dashboard. Officially unveiled at the 1981 Geneva Motor Show, the Quartz generated immediate interest. In 1986, Automobil Revue conducted an extensive road test, recording a top speed of 217 km/h and a 0–100 km/h time of 7.1 seconds, impressive figures for an early-1980s concept. Although it never evolved into a production model, the Audi Quartz lives on as a historic icon and can now be seen at the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt, a reminder of the moment when Germany and Italy came together to create a five-cylinder legend.