Hardly any other car received as much positive attention at its presentation as the Audi quattro. Presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1980, quattro became synonymous with a new technological dimension from one day to the next. And Audi‘s successes on the world‘s rally tracks bear this out.
Other companies are also trying to profit from this image boost. Whether it‘s a quattro frying pan, quattro skis, quattro lawn mower, quattro bookcase or quattro drill, there is hardly a product group in which a new „quattro product“ does not come onto the market.
In order to prevent others from profiting from the image boost provided by quattro, Audi founded a subsidiary in October 1983: quattro GmbH was the legal response to
the free riders of quattro‘s success and was also intended to build brand loyalty through image transfer in selected accessory areas.Small but mighty and at least as exclusive as the quattro technology was the first quattro collection with which quattro GmbH surprised the Audi fan community after its foundation in 1983. Designer Michael Pfeiffer has put together 22 noble, dark grey „luggage parts and small leather goods“ made of fine cowhide, naturally „Made in Germany“, in this collection. The target group is clear: quattro drivers and those who wanted to be. The range reaches its target audience. Additional accessories and colours are added to the collection every two years.
Audi was an ambitious company in the mid-1980s, with high design standards and technical sophistication shaping its image. The great successes in rallying and the targeted
sponsoring activities in golf and equestrian sports do the rest to distinguish themselves among new target groups. If you want to reach and retain these target groups, you have to offer something not only on the product level. quattro GmbH is supplementing its range with the corresponding accessories, thus underlining the profile of the Audi brand.
The range of products on offer from 1988 onwards is also geared to the increased needs of the sales sector: the trade supports the steady upward positioning of the Audi brand with exclusive showrooms and the sales sector with the opportunity to collect the new vehicle from the factory. What could be more obvious than to score points here with the articles from quattro GmbH. Signing the contract over a coffee from the exclusive Audi Service, prepared in the Audi coffee machine of course? No problem - and when the vehicle
is handed over, the matching pendant is of course attached to the key and presented to the proud owner.
Those who also want to express their attachment to the brand in their leisure time or while travelling will find around 300 articles in the quattro GmbH range. From golf balls to the exclusive „Pikes Peak“ mountain bike.
In 1988, Audi presented its first luxury-class saloon, the V8, and in 1990, the Audi 100, the challenger in the upper middle class, was presented. In the run-up to the market launches, quattro GmbH now accompanied the launches with selected merchandising articles and accessories, which were offered to retailers and distributors to support sales: From balloons and sweets for the little ones to the corresponding vehicle model in 925 sterling silver, quattro GmbH offers the appropriate accessories for dealer and trade fair events.
quattro GmbH expanded this function when it took over sales sovereignty in 1992. quattro GmbH takes on strategic marketing tasks in a targeted manner.