The debut of the Audi quattro at the 1981 Geneva Motor Show opened up new target groups for the brand. Suddenly public figures wanted to drive an Audi. Herbert von Karajan as well as Franz Beckenbauer and King Juan Carlos put their faith in the high-performance coupé from Ingolstadt.

Although the Audi quattro is already exclusively equipped by itself, these customers have individual wishes over and above the normal range. The first vehicle customisations are carried out at Audi in the pilot hall opened at the Ingolstadt plant in 1979. It is the new link between the prototypes and series production and has the necessary equipment to carry out individual conversions in small series or even exclusively and by hand.

For very special VIP customers, the lead management of such

projects is transferred to the design department, which has these vehicles individualised in the test building of Technical Development. Initially, the wishes are still limited to classic performance upgrades in the Audi quattro or Audi 200 turbo, which are usually delivered with 30% more power. In addition, a few details such as seat rail extensions, here and there a foot cushion or a different paint job.

In the course of the 1980s, demands continue to rise. And so the top Audi models are often used to cultivate classic understatement on the one hand and on the other hand to underline with exclusive body conversions that one has not ordered just any off-the-peg car. This is how highly exclusive vehicles are created - mostly based on the Audi quattro or the Audi 200 quattro - some of which have more than 300 hp and are individually lined with the most exclusive leather in the

interior. Some vehicles are lined with leather from the roof to the seats and all surfaces, including the dashboard.

The company itself often appears as a client: special press cars are equipped with water buffalo leather and handmade wooden applications. Vehicles were also built for the product placement that began sparingly in the mid-1980s, whether as Prof. Brinkmann‘s „company car“ in „Schwarzwaldklinik“ or for James Bond in „The Living Daylights“.

The higher positioning of the Audi brand also took hold internationally. From 1985 onwards, quattro technology was introduced throughout the model range - and with the new Audi 80/90 launched in 1986, even the smaller models became attractive for individualisation. Small cars with high performance meet the taste of the times: exclusive colours

inside and out as well as wide tyres on three-piece BBS rims are at the top of many customers‘ wish lists.

Parallel to such individual customisations, however, the first very small series were also produced: In 1986, a series of 50 identically constructed Audi 200 quattro with exclusive equipment was built for the driving service of the World Economic Forum in Davos, some of whose components later found their way into the series product range. In 1993/94, when Audi took over sales control, the company developed a production system for customising vehicles in series production and for carrying out exclusive equipment requests directly on the production line - rationally and, above all, attractively priced. At the 1995 IAA, quattro GmbH officially took over the vehicle customisation business and its support, and has since offered a wide range of customisation options

for Audi vehicles. Special customer wishes that go beyond the standard equipment programme are fulfilled according to the usual Audi quality and safety standards.

What began as individual hand-crafted conversions has since grown into the widest range of products on offer among the competition and extends through all model series from the A1 to the R8. Customers can choose between pre-configured packages - the Audi exclusive line - or put together their own personalised Audi.