Editor's note: This story is part of the WardsAuto digital archive, which may include content that was first published in print, or in different web layouts.

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.”