Quattro (meaning four in Italian) is the sub-brand used by the car brand Audi AG to indicate that all-wheel drive (AWD) technologies or systems are used on specific models of its Audi automobiles. It is also Audi’s actual performance division alongside S and RSThe word “quattro” is a registered trademark of Audi AG, a subsidiary of theGerman automotive concern, Volkswagen Group.
Quattro was first introduced in 1980 on the permanent four wheel drive Audi Quattro model, often referred to as the Ur-Quattro (“Ur-” is a German prefix that means “original” or “first”). The term quattro has since been applied to all subsequent Audi AWD models. Due to the nomenclature rights derived from the trademark, the word quattro is now always spelled with a lower case “q”, in honour of its former namesake.
Other companies in the Volkswagen Group have used different trademarks for their 4WD vehicles. While Audi has always used the term “quattro”, Volkswagen-branded cars initially used “syncro”, but more recently, VW uses “4motion”. Škoda simply uses the nomenclature “4×4” after the model name, whereas SEAT uses merely “4”. None of the above trademarks or nomenclatures defines the operation or type of 4WD system, as detailed below.