2020 Is A Huge Anniversary Year For Audi

Feb. 02, 2020 12:40 PM ET by Karl Furlong / Comments

It's been 40 years since the legendary Quattro was introduced.

Audi has established itself as one of the world's biggest luxury automakers, no longer considered a second-rate alternative to Mercedes-Benz and BMW. For fans of the brand, 2020 just happens to be a really big year, with several key anniversaries being celebrated by the marque. In fact, Audi has now released a special "Anniversary Dates 2020" booklet to ensure we don't forget about the significance of this year - it contains everything from the iconic Quattro's reveal to when the Ingolstadt location's technical development building was ready.

The first big one on the list is that 40 years ago, the legendary Audi Quattro was released at the Geneva International Motor Show. The all-wheel-drive system was pretty much unheard of for a high-performance coupe and it was the car that firmly entrenched Audi as one of the frontrunners of the AWD drivetrain.

So remarkable was the Quattro's driving characteristics in challenging conditions that the Quattro system found its way into the series-production Audi 80. Today, models like the RS6 Avant are still using the Quattro system to put down their remarkable power outputs.

A bit more recent is the 20-year anniversary, also this year, of Audi AG winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the very first time with the R8 sports prototype race car (not to be confused with the Audi R8 we know today). The event is the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing.

Another iconic anniversary involves the original Audi TT - it's been 25 years since the coupe concept for this groundbreaking sports car was revealed at the IAA in Frankfurt. With its dramatic styling, turbocharged engines, and superbly-designed cabin, the first-generation TT has aged amazingly well.

As the marque moves into a brand new era of sustainable motoring with a range of battery-electric vehicles like the etron-Sportback, it seems like the perfect opportunity to look back at where it all began. If you want to take a look at the full list of iconic moments in Audi's digital booklet, you can find it in the link at the bottom of this page. Here's to another century and more of superb vehicles bearing the four rings.

2020 Is A Huge Anniversary Year For Audi

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2020 Is A Huge Anniversary Year For Audi

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