Walter Treser – The Man Behind The Audi Quattro

Sadly, Walter Treser passed away on the at the age of 81. The former head of Audi Sport was a talented engineer who managed the quattro project and brought permanent four wheel drive to passenger cars and rallying.

“Under the leadership of Walter Treser, Audi Sport began to develop into the force that still shapes international motorsport today,” says Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for motorsport at Audi. “He was instrumental in the development of quattro all-wheel drive and the first major motorsport successes of this technology. This has changed the brand’s image for good.”

We take a look at the man himself with a video from Audi AG.

Walter had the idea of making the VW Iltis with more power. This small off-road vehicle impressed Treser with its handling. But he wanted to make a coupe, a 2-seater. Something fast and dynamic.

In November 1977 the first Audi quattro is finished. Based on a lengthened Audi 80 the A1 starts to rack up development mileage. Fitted with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine with 200bhp the performance was impressive. It was this driveline technology that was presented to Ferdinand Piëch for approval.

The in-house name for the car was A1, all-wheel drive version 1.

It nearly didn’t get the name quattro as the marketing department favoured the name Carat. Turns out that it was a lady’s perfume and didn’t quite suit the car… The Audi quattro made its first appearance in March 1980 at the Geneva Motor show and going on sale to the public.

Winning rallies throughout the world, securing drivers such as Walter Rohl and the first female world rally competitor Michelle Mouton. This kept the public interest in the quattro and all-wheel drive cars. The rest they say is history, we’ve now had 40 years of the Audi quattro.

40 Years Of The Audi Quattro

Walter Treser

Walter Treser was a very talented engineer and was there right at the birth of the legend that became the Audi quattro. He was the head of Advanced Special Vehicles for Audi from 1976 before becoming Project Manager of the Audi quattro concept. It was during this period he led the team of 12 engineers to develop the original UR quattro. Before that he was a successful racing driver with DKWs and Alpina BMWs from which he got the job as a Pirelli development driver at Pirelli.

From 1980 until 1982 he was the head of Audi Sport and was responsible for the quattro in the World Rally Championship.

In 1982 he resigned from Audi to set up Treser Automobiltechnic und Design. The new company specialised in the in the engineering and styling of Audi cars. A close working relationship with Audi at Ingoldstadt helped Treser gain international success. He had agents in the United States, Australia, Japan and the UK.

The most well-known of his Treser Audi conversions was the folding hardtop quattro. This wasn’t just a heavily modified body; the engine saw power increases too. Treser was even responsible for producing a convertible second generation VW Polo amongst other VAG group derived products.

Walter Treser pictured below (right) during development with the VW Iltis.