There's more to quattro

Quattro -  a word always associated with Audi mainly because of its legendary all-wheel drive Quattro rally car and also  for their patent Quattro all-wheel drive system. Quattro is a word used by people to describe many things like their all-wheel drive system or their legendary Quattro but there is much more to it than that. People don't know the actual meaning of Quattro. Audi has really tried to establish their Quattro brand in the past years but have their efforts gone in vain? Let's find out what exactly it stands for ..

BMW and Mercedes have their own in-house tuning divisions namely 'M' and 'AMG'. These subsidiary companies are owned by their respective automakers. The main function of these subsidiary companies is to modify their parent company's cars in such a way that they are more luxurious and mainly have superior performance than the car it is based on, however there can be exceptions sometimes like the BMM M3 GTS which was track ready; so no luxuries were expected from that car, but most of the times these companies produce cars which are faster, better in handling and comfortable. In more clearer words, these cars can tear up a B-road with its handling, bend your face with mind blowing acceleration and still you can drive it to work every day. This car is like a Wolf in Sheep's skin , comfortable while still having  supercar like performance. However these companies  are closed companies i.e. they cannot directly sell their cars to public via franchised outlet under its own brand name. Instead they are sold under the company that owns it. BMW and Mercedes have their in -house tuning divisions so naturally Audi too has one, I mean they compete with each other in every other segment . However the name of Audi's in-house tuning division is not what you think....

The first car to compete with likes of Mercedes and BMW's performance cars was the RS2 which came out in 1994 . It was in collaboration with Audi AG and Porsche, it was based on Audi 80 estate car.

In recent years, Audi has launched the RS7, RS6, RS4, RS3, TTRS, RSQ3 which all are direct competitors to BMW'S 'M' and Mercedes 'AMG'. However, unlike BMW or Mercedes whose tuning divisions are 'M' and 'AMG', Audi's tuning division is not 'RS' it's actually Quattro. 'RS' is just the highest trim level under Quattro . 'RS' means Rennsport in German and Racing sport in English. The problem here is there is too much confusion. They should keep it simple like AMG . 50% of all AMG cars ever made are sold in North America which is an astonishing number. This shows that people love the brand name, the value they hold and how special it feels. On the other hand, Audi RS models don't have the same resonance as that of 'M' or 'AMG'. People always think 'RS' is the tuning division but it isn't, it is just the highest trim level car made by Audi's tuning division Quattro.

Audi has a problem here. 'M' and 'AMG' cars are the best Mercedes and BMW can offer in terms of handling, performance. You must be thinking Audi's tuning division does the same thing. Well sort of... the problem here is that all the cars made in BMW and Mercedes tuning division carry their badges. For example the M3, M4, M5 etc or S65AMG CL63AMG etc. The badges  indicate that you have bought the best machine the company can possibly make and it makes you feel special and these tuning divisions are situated in a different place as that of their parent company and no other cars are built there except for the one's bearing their name badge. But in Audi's case, they make a car named  Q7 V12 TDI there which doesn't carry any fancy name of RS or anything but it still costs 1,00,000 Euros, that is supercar money for some car which doesn't even have a logo to say that it is the best the company can make. These days Audi is so desperate that it will sell you a no cost option to have a mean looking Quattro logo in the front grille so that people understand that Quattro is tuning division which is making this car because people don't know that. They think that Quattro is just the four wheel drive system or the logo there is a reminder of the legendary Quattro. But it means a lot more than that..

BMW and Mercedes have kept it simple and its paid off. They are much more known and successful than Audi's in-house tuning division Quattro. I mean having a Quattro brand name and having more models in it of different names and  sometimes not giving your name to your models you produce leads to loss of identity and creates confusion. BMW and Mercedes tuners kept it simple. All the models they produce have 'M' and 'AMG' in their name which makes them easy to recognize and confusion doesn't take place and their cars feel different and special. I hope Audi fixes this problem soon because Quattro produces some amazing cars and they deserve recognition. My only advice to Audi is keep it simple, it will pay off!