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Fame has returned to the sought-after original Audi Quattro, thanks to its starring role in the new British television drama series Ashes to Ashes, set in 1980.
The most priceless example of the coupe that rewrote the World Rally Championship rule book in the 1980s and redefined four-wheel-drive for production road cars is owned by Audi's British office. It is unregistered, has no miles on the clock and will never be sold.
So rare is this car - the last right-hand-drive Quattro coupe ever made - that Audi is forced to keep it in a secret location and stored in a sealed, dehumidified environment.
The bright red original is similar in colour to the Quattro used in the TV programme.
The series is a sequel to Life on Mars. Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is a police psychological profiler examining coma cases. But she is injured on the job and falls into a coma herself. She awakes in the past, in this case 1981, to again meet up with notorious detective Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), who tools around in the Audi Quattro.
Glenister said of the show's car: "It looks fantastic on the outside. They've done a good job on the paintwork and the bodywork, but it's done about 157,000 miles. It must have been so ahead of its time: four-wheel drive and it had an immobiliser on it, which is not great for quick getaways."
Jeremy Hicks, director of Audi UK, said the example under wraps was irreplaceable. "Its value to the brand is inestimable. Whenever we have exhibited it, we have received a succession of surprisingly high offers but sadly this particular car, the Quattro that started it all for the company in the early eighties, will never be for sale."
In the final twist to the tale, experts say the model used in the TV drama is actually a 1984 Quattro, identified by its single headlamp binnacles. The first Quattro, launched in March 1980, had twin headlamp lenses on each side.
"The unprecedented exposure from the TV show has thrown the spotlight back on to the original Quattro for the first time since production ceased almost 20 years ago," said Hicks.
"We are seeing renewed interest in our classic cars and we expect demand for the first Audi Quattro to rise dramatically this year."
Audi has just launched the latest example of the right-drive-drive Quattro, the RS6 Avant, It is the most powerful production Audi has ever made, its twin-turbo V10 engine producing 435kW (580bhp) and 650Nm. Audi claims a zero to 100km/h time of 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 280km/h. The RS6 Avant is expected in New Zealand in May.
