Despite our modest population, Australia has long proved to be a strong market for Audi’s high-performance Audi Sport brand. The appetite for specialist R and RS models Down Under has only continued to grow over the years, with Australia regularly ranked in the top five markets for Audi Sport models globally.

This year, Audi Sport, which started life as quattro GmbH, celebrates 40 years of high-performance excellence. In that time it has produced numerous automotive icons, as well as birthing an enviable customer racing division and an on-going factory racing arm that currently contests the famed Dakar Rally and will enter Formula 1 from 2026.

The Audi Sport brand has also started its transition to the electric age with the production of the first all-electric RS model – the RS e-tron GT – offering a glimpse of the future that promises to be every bit as exciting as the first 40 years.

This high-performance arm began life in 1983 as quattro GmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary of AUDI AG with the name ultimately changed to Audi Sport GmbH in 2016.

Back in its formative days, the name ‘quattro’ had already shot to prominence as Audi’s potent all-wheel drive system that it introduced in 1980 – the story of it rewriting the motorsport history books now the stuff of automotive legend.

Initially the original quattro GmbH was created partly to safeguard the quattro name and marketing rights internationally as well as offering up a suite of specialised Audi lifestyle products. Those luxury offerings took the form of items designed to compliment the ‘Audi lifestyle’ rather than vehicle enhancements. Think items like exclusive and beautifully crafted luggage, wallets and keyrings branded with the quattro name – all boasting the same attention to detail of the Audi brand and the perfect accompaniments to Audi ownership.

Certainly at the time of its birth, no one could have foreseen that the company would ultimately grow to produce its own highly specialised models that would develop their own following around the world and become synonymous with performance motoring and indeed motorsport.

It wasn’t until 1996 that quattro GmbH would become a vehicle manufacturer in its own right, presenting its first high-performance model at the Geneva Motor Show that year – the Audi S6 plus.

Based on the S6 production model and offered as a Sedan and Avant, its 4.2-litre powerplant was reworked from the standard 213kW output to 240kW in its new guise and hit 100km/h from standstill in 5.6 seconds. It had subtle but distinctive styling changes over the standard S6 as well as interior upgrades. And as was the case for all subsequent models, it was offered exclusively with quattro permanent all-wheel drive from the outset.

This was just the beginning. Four years later, the first RS car was born – the RS 4 Avant – a high-performance wagon, which produced supercar performance and handling in a vehicle that could be driven and used in the real world on a daily basis. 

In collaboration with Cosworth Technology, the cylinder head, engine block and crankshaft were all redesigned for higher loads and the output of the 2.7-litre V6 climbed from an already solid 195kW to a massive 280kW. This gave the RS 4 Avant a sub five second 0 to 100km/h time (4.9 seconds) with handling dynamics to match.

Based on the S4 from AUDI AG, this was the first complete vehicle to be entirely independently designed and put on the road by quattro GmbH and was an absolute sales hit. Instead of the planned 3000 units to make the project profitable, just over 6000 Audi RS 4 Avants were produced and snapped up by eager owners and each successive RS 4 model has been likewise enthusiastically received.

In many ways this groundbreaking model set the tone for what was to come, but Audi Sport has never been predictable except that each new model and model update has continued to push the envelope.

The highlights over 40 years have been too many to list in a short overview, but the arrival of the Audi R8 in 2007 marked another seminal moment for the performance brand.

With its high-revving mid-engine, FSI direct injection, wind tunnel-tested aerodynamics with a rear diffuser and lightweight Audi Space Frame (ASF) construction, the Audi R8 was a game-changer. Its styling was captivating as was its performance. Bit it was also the fact that it was not highly strung as so many supercars had the reputation of being and could be easily driven in traffic but  still perform amazing feats on the race track in equal measure.

Now in its second generation, the brand’s first mid-engined supercar was an instant sensation. The GT3 version was also the starting point for the hugely successful customer racing program, which has since been further expanded with the addition of the RS 3 LMS, R8 LMS GT4 and R8 LMS GT2 models. 

To date, vehicles built by Audi Sport customer racing have clinched more than 400 titles and countless race victories worldwide. 

In terms of its road-going offering, the brand has grown over its 40 years to now offer 16 models ranging in size from the TT RS and RS 3 models right through to the RSQ8 and now includes the brand’s first all-electric RS model, the RS e-tron GT.

These extraordinary vehicles – ranging from SUVs to Avants to two-seat sports cars – are produced at four locations, but all to the same exacting standards. 

The RS 3 Sportback, RS 3 Sedan, RS 4 Avant, RS 5 Coupé and the RS 5 Sportback all roll off the production line at the main plant in Ingolstadt. The Neckarsulm site produces the RS 6 Avant, RS 7 Sportback, R8 Coupé, R8 Spyder and the R8 racing cars (GT2, GT3, GT4). This specialised plant is also responsible for all-electric e-tron GT quattro and RS e-tron GT. The Hungarian plant in Győr produces the TT RS as a coupé and roadster, as well as the RS Q3 and the RS Q3 Sportback while the RS Q8 comes from the Slovakian plant in Bratislava. 

Despite being built at different locations, each Audi Sport model has a close link to the Nürburgring Nordschleife – the green hell.

Every RS and R model is inexorably linked to this famed race track and has to cover several thousand kilometres around its gruelling 20.8 kilometre layout before even going into production. The first endurance run takes place during the very early development phase for each model with a prototype and many test parts, while the second endurance run uses a pre-production vehicle. Every kilometre on this hallowed track is said to have the equivalent wear of 15 kilometres of driving on a ‘normal road’ and is the ultimate ‘acid test’ to ensure each model lives up to the highest standards expected of every Audi Sport model.

Audi Sport works driver Frank Stippler, a two-time winner of the Nürburgring 24-hour race and involved in the test program of the production cars since 2003, knows only too well what makes the Nordschleife so demanding and such a special part of each Audi Sport model: 

“You can filter out the final weak points there during the endurance runs before the production process begins, which is not possible on the dyno or with simulations. As a race driver, I can test the car at the absolute limit and thus give the Audi engineers additional input during the fine-tuning stage.” 

With the high-performance models from the brand, these endurance tests at the 'Green Hell’ have become an indispensable part of development approval for road car production and of the very essence of the Audi Sport cars.

While the Audi Sport models remain at the very heart of the brand, this specialist ‘arm’ of Audi has grown to include areas beyond even that. In addition to the high-performance range of road cars, Audi Sport offers specialist vehicle customisation through the Audi exclusive program – everything from bespoke paint schemes and interior treatments, made to the match the customer’s wishes. Even the line of high-quality lifestyle items that were born with the quattro name remain part of the Audi Sport core business to this day, although now the range has expanded significantly and become low as the Audi collection.

And of course Audi Sport is also responsible for both factory and customer racing for the brand which not only includes the hugely successful GT and TCR programs, but sees Audi Sport as the key driver of electrified mobility for Audi in motorsport. 

This has seen vehicles like the Audi RS Q e-tron prototype created in 2021 for the brand’s assault on the legendary Dakar Rally – the vehicle’s drivetrain concept combining an electric powertrain with a high-voltage battery and a highly efficient energy converter that charges the high-voltage battery while driving. This combination of technologies – an energy converter using a TFSI engine from the DTM coupled to a drivetrain unit from Formula E as a generator shows the ingenuity of the Audi Sport brand and paves the way not only for future Dakars but the brand’s next great challenge – the FIA Formula One World Championship. With the new rules relying on greater electrification, the Audi Sport brand is perfectly placed to develop the drive units of these Formula 1 cars of the very near future.

Certainly both on and off the track, the future is electric and the stunning debut of the RS e-tron GT in 2021 shows that the Audi Sport Brand is happily taking it high-performance ethos into the future in stye.

The 40 years of Audi Sport has been a story of highlight after highlight, and with the electrification of the brand well underway, it promises to be just as exciting in the years to come.