QUATTRO REBORN

IT’S THE CAR AUDI WON’T GIVE US – A 21ST CENTURY REBOOT OF THE ICONIC QUATTRO. FORTUNATELY, START-UP E-LEGEND HAS OBLIGED

- GEORG KACHER

IT WAS ONE of those rare moments you tend not to forget in a hurry. The cover flew off the mint green EL1 show car and wild applause roared through the HOTE studio in Beilngries, east of Ingolstadt, goosebumps raging through the audience like a Mexican wave. A mixed bunch of aficionados, industry insiders and supplier reps delivered a standing ovation to a small bald man of hard-to-guess age, who strolled onto the stage in the universal allblack T-shirt-and-jeans designer uniform, bowing deeply as he thanked the gathered throng for their applause.

The man in the spotlight is Marcus Holzinger, a speed junkie, performance car addict and gifted designer. His father made his name in clay modelling and prototype building in the ’70s, and Marcus picked up the quattro obsession before he’d even left school.

“Dad owned an early Ur-quattro, and one of my first creative jobs was helping to shape the Sport Quattro. After an apprenticeship with Audi design, I completed my training at VW in California and Wolfsburg. From the start, I knew I wanted to build my own dream car. It took a little longer than expected – these things do – but now there is nothing stopping us making this vision a reality.”