Abt Unveils Audi Quattro Restomod With 523bhp

Abt is a name you’ll doubtless be familiar with if you like your VW Group cars – and in particular your Audis – fast, loud and in-yer-face. The tuning shop has been fettling the manufacturer’s cars for decades, largely under the auspices of current bossman Hans-Jürgen Abt, who took over the company from his father in the late 1980s.

One of the first things he did in his new role was build himself a very special tuned Audi Quattro, with around 444bhp and bits pilfered from the Group B homologation Sport Quattro. Now the company’s announced a run of 30 Quattro restomods in homage to that car.

The new car was revealed with a Steve Jobs-style ‘One Last Thing’ flourish at a recent media event. Abt hasn’t given too much technical info away, but has said the car has a 2.5-litre engine. Whether that’s a bored-out version of the original Quattro’s 2.1-litre turbo five-pot, or the modern 2.5-litre unit from the RS3, we’re not sure, but either way, it’s said to be pushing 523bhp.

The body panels, meanwhile, are made from carbon kevlar, and things like anti-lock brakes should make using all 523bhp a much more confidence-inspiring experience. We don’t know much else at this point, but it certainly looks the business with its rallyish five-spoke wheels and modern-day Abt bucket seats.

Built up from an original ‘Ur-Quattro’, Abt says the restomods will retain their donor cars’ chassis numbers. That means that in Germany, they’ll be considered classics and registerable as historic cars, bringing sizeable tax and insurance benefits to owners.

“It was a real undercover project, developed together with our managing director Thomas Biermaier,” said Hans-Jürgen Abt. “The Ur-Quattro is probably the most traditional Audi in the Volkswagen Group and also has an emotional importance for our company, so we thought about what we could do with it. The result is our modern interpretation of a true icon.”

You’re probably thinking you want one, and so are we, but we have bad news, and not of the ‘it costs absolutely silly money’ kind (although it probably does). When Abt unveiled the car, it announced it was only planning to build 25 of them, and they were all spoken for within three hours. It even decided to make a further five for its most loyal customers, but naturally, these too are all gone.