Aware that it needs to maintain the top-flight reputation of its quattro all-wheel-drive systems, one of Audi AG's chief vehicle engineers says it will introduce a highly advanced form of quattro later this year.
Michael Dick, Audi's head of Total Vehicle and Chassis Development, tells Ward's the auto maker will incorporate so-called torque-vectoring technology into the next-generation quattro system slated to launch later this year in Europe for the all-new A5 coupe, to be quickly followed by the eighth-generation A4 sedan, which comes to the U.S. in early 2008.
Both vehicles are built on the same all-new architecture.
Torque vectoring takes all-wheel drive to another level by varying drive torque not just between front and rear axles but also between wheels on the same axle.
By adjusting torque side-to-side, a higher degree of handling performance is achieved by delivering more torque to the outside wheel in a corner, turning the vehicle more sharply and precisely.
Torque vectoring also is a way to enhance safety, in effect an “active” form of the brake system-based vehicle stability control systems now common.
Dick says the next-generation quattro with torque vectoring will retain Audi's longstanding Torsen (torque-sensing) center differential to apportion torque between the front and rear axles, but adds a differential on the rear axle, incorporating electronically controlled clutches, to selectively apportion torque between the rear wheels.
Dick says Audi began testing its torque-vectoring quattro system early last year, and engineers will be ready to launch the system with the new A5 and then in performance-oriented S and RS variants of the all-new A4 sport sedan.
Dick says the torque-vectoring quattro system will deliver “driving dynamics as no Audi (has) before.”
