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We get it, the Audi RS Q e-tron ET Rally Car is a lot to say. It’s also a lot to take in, since it’s an electric rally race car that can jump and bound over sand dunes, or carve dirt corners in rally courses. But if you listen to Audi, racing cars like the RS Q is improving the whole breed, and that technology should come to the cars or SUVs that you and I drive in the next few years like the new Q4 etron. Audi has done it before, with its quattro system in the 1980s.

Quattro all-wheel drive came from rally racing

A vintage Audi Rally car
Audi Quattro Group B car | Gerd Schifferl, Getty Images

In the 1980s Audi wanted to spank the competition in off-road rally racing, but it only made two-wheel drive cars at the time. Because, traditionally, Audi’s engines were mounted in a different way than other cars’, so it had to come up with a clever solution. That clever solution turned out to be Quattro, now stylized as quattro, all-wheel drive. With the new system, based on a planetary gear set in the middle of the car, Audi dominated rally racing for years.

We don’t have to tell you that quattro is one of the hallmarks of Audi’s SUVs (and performance cars). The system can split the engine’s power smoothly, with no lag, from front to rear and help a Q5, Q3 or any other Audi SUV take on rough weather and rough trails with ease. Audi used what it learned racing in Group B to improve the SUVs we buy today.

What is Audi learning from the E2?

Audi Rally Car on dirt
The RS Q e-tron E2 Rally Car | Audi

The Audi RS Q e-tron E2 Rally Car name is confusing, to be sure, but it’s winning races. The E2 uses an internal combustion engine and a generator, with batteries, to power two electric motors. There’s one for the front wheels and one for the rear.

Not all has gone smoothly, Audi admits, but the company is fine-tuning its all-wheel drive software to make the E2 run smoothly and not use extra juice when, for example, jumping. The air conditioning in the E2, too, has been tuned. It was so powerful, it was freezing itself. While these don’t sound like major improvements, Audi is making a big deal of these lessons and, like quattro, will likely apply them to the next generation of Q4 e-tron, Q3 or Q5 SUVs.

Could that racing tech come to your next Q4 e-tron SUV?

A blue 2022 Audi e-Tron driving down a winding road.
2022 Audi e-Tron | Audi

You may not know the Audi Q4 e-tron SUV yet, they’re still rare. The Audi Q4 e-tron SUV is about the size of the Q5, however, it’s electric. Audi is promising that 30% of its fleet will be electrified by 2025, like the RS race car. That means Audi will have to learn as much as it can about range, all-wheel drive, and even air conditioning from its race cars to make sure that its upcoming street cars stay competitive, too

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Writer - Sedans & Coupes

Dan Mayfield

Dan joined MotorBiscuit in 2022 with over 20 years of experience in journalism and a lifelong passion for anything related to the automotive industry. He grew up wrenching a 1949 Ford pickup truck and an MGB with his dad, learning how not to wire a fuel pump (he inadvertently set the MGB on fire).

After earning a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of New Mexico, Dan has contributed his expertise to a range of local outlets, including the City of Albuquerque, US Eagle, and the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity.

On weekends, Dan spends Saturdays enjoying “cars and coffee” chats and, on Sundays, he’s watching the Route 66 Cruise roll through town. He also races motorcycles, and it’s not unusual to find him elbows-deep in his latest cafe racer build.

Taking advantage of the local desert terrain, Dan also enjoys exploring and driving off-road in his trusty Ram Rebel pickup truck, which provides personal insights into his contributions to our Trucks, SUVs, & Crossovers coverage. Dan strives to give our readers unique information about the dynamic automotive market, reading anything that has to do with cars, trucks, bikes, 4X4s, and, in his words, “everything with a motor.”

Dan has earned a number of accolades from the Public Relations Society of America, and is a University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Fellow.