Audi Avus quattro

The Audi Avus quattro was a concept sports car made by Audi and first shown at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show. Its aluminium space frame helped reduce weight, and as the second showing of the new aluminium architecture, after the quattro Spyder a month before, it led to the mass-produced aluminium A8 of 1994. J Mays designed the bodywork, inspired by the Auto Union race cars of the 1930s whose aluminium bodies were left unpainted; the panels are polished aluminium 1.5 mm thick, beaten by hand. The intended engine was a 6.0 litre 60-valve W12 producing 509 PS, but because Audi's W12 was still in development the car shown in Tokyo carried a painted dummy of wood and plastic, and Audi W12 engines were not sold until 2001. It also has three lockable differentials, rear-wheel steering and a NACA-style roof duct, and it is now displayed at Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt.