Audi to display 700bhp plug-in hybrid at the Frankfurt Motor Show

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Sport quattro - the musclebound short-wheelbase coupe originally conceived for the rally stages - Audi will unveil its conceptual successor at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Audi Sport quattro concept show car continues the grand quattro tradition, with a stunning coupe silhouette and plug-in hybrid drive delivering a system output of 700bhp.

quattro is Audi and Audi is quattro – the brand and the technology are indelibly linked. Since the debut of the “Ur-quattro” in 1980, Audi has sold more than five million cars with permanent all-wheel drive, far more than any other premium manufacturer worldwide. The advantages in terms of grip, control and composure delivered by the quattro system have now been reaped by drivers, initially in rallying and then on the road, for over three decades.

With the Audi Sport quattro concept show car, Audi is taking this grand tradition and projecting it into the future with the help of ideas that were first seen in the Audi quattro concept study of 2010. The DNA of the Ur-quattro is immediately evident in the powerful road stance of the Sport quattro concept.

Like the Audi Sport quattro, the Audi Sport quattro concept was designed in the spirit of motorsport. None of its design solutions are an end unto themselves. Each is driven by a technical function, and several pay homage to the quattro models of the early 1980s. These include the angular, flat C-pillars and the rectangular double headlights featuring Audi's groundbreaking Matrix LED technology, which will be available by the end of this year in the new generation Audi A8.

Two very flat structures are visible inside the headlight. The wrap-around daytime running lights together with the central low-beam units and the Audi Matrix LED make for a sporty, determined look. The headlights and tail lights are a reinterpretation of lightweight construction. Unusually, the headlights do not have a fascia, exposing the LED heat sinks, while the tail lights reduce glass and housing to a minimum.

The LED high-beam unit of the Audi Matrix LED headlights is comprised of numerous individual diodes. The individual LEDs, which work in tandem with upstream lenses and reflectors, always deliver excellent illumination. They are activated, deactivated or dimmed individually according to the situation.