Audi Quattro (1984)

The original Quattro changed Audi’s image almost overnight. Before it, all-wheel drive was mostly associated with off-road vehicles; after it, turbocharged performance and permanent four-wheel drive became a serious formula for both rally stages and road cars. Its arrival at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show marked the beginning of Audi’s modern performance identity.

On the World Rally Championship stages, the Quattro helped rewrite the sport’s competitive rules, forcing rivals to take driven front and rear axles seriously. On the road, its five-cylinder soundtrack, box-arched body and traction-first engineering made it one of the defining performance cars of the 1980s.