E-Legend remasters the Audi quattro for an EV future

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 all-black 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.”

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Without the pandemic the E-Legend EL1 may not have existed. Covid-19 confined thousands to home-office working, axed projects at a worrying rate, and took jobs away from suppliers, contractors and service providers. From one month to the next, HOTE design had to increase downtime, lay people off and wait even longer than usual to get paid.

The crisis almost broke his father, but the young Holzinger used his spare time to update his countless drawings, fabricate early scale models, scribble down a rough business plan, and check out whether his allies were still keen on making this offbeat project happen.

The most significant link between the drawing board and the first prototype was the friendship between the Holzingers and Günther Riedl, CEO and senior brain power of specialists Roding Automobiles.

When Roding presented a battery-powered roadster in 2017, Marcus Holzinger was still a devoted fan of the internal combustion engine. But inside, the industry consultant knew the future was electric.

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As a result, within a couple of months the DNA of his dream car shifted from high-octane grunt through to a plug-in hybrid compromise to clean-air, cable-fed EV power. The final zero-emission concept is fully compatible with the philosophy of Team Roding, who had just completed a matching all-wheel-drive (essential for any quattro reboot) rolling chassis.

The proportions were not yet perfect, the packaging still required adjustments, and the exact specifications of the batteries changed faster than the weather. But at the end of the day, Roding found the required dimensional and structural flexibilities while Holzinger carried out the changes needed to make his body design fit the tub.

In addition, he came up with a cabin that could be extensively personalised, and both partners agreed on a number of architectural hard points to be revisited when the time was ripe for additional products.

Early on, the biggest worry for the new kids on the quattro block was a possible veto from Audi, who could have easily thrown a spanner in the works. But Ingolstadt wasn’t interested in taking a step back in time, so the new enterprise started raising funds in the middle of last year.

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Do Holzinger and Riedl fear stiff competition from similar concepts like the Everrati 911? And why not re-fit an original quattro with e-power?

“We are not in a position to rewrite history, and we don’t simply put a modern drivetrain into a copycat body,” says Holzinger. “Our approach is best described as high-tech retro-futurism. Take the EL1, which is not a sleek rehash of the Sport Quattro but the creative evolution of a legendary shape, fused with a state-of-the-art chassis (it will use a carbon-fibre structure) and driveline. The underpinnings are so advanced that we intend to use them in our next two or three cars, and they’ll be fun – the goal is to transfer the analogue primal instincts of emotional driving into the modern world.”

But first E-Legend must get the EL1 off the ground. Despite the strong visual appeal, selling 30 units may not be a breeze for the no-name new-comer – especially in view of the steep €$1.4m asking price.

“We are close to establishing a limited company named E-Legend,” says Manuel Egginger, the man in charge of finances and strategy, who runs a Porsche centre in his spare time. “The six founding members own 50 per cent of the firm through common stock, and we are looking for investors. The initial investment should be amortised by 2024.”

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From 2025, the stakeholders should start earning money, even though reserves are set to grow. With the EL1 getting attention and spreading the word, Holzinger and friends have already turned some of their attention to two more production runs, again limited to 30 vehicles each.

Marcus is tight-lipped when asked to reveal details about the next batch of dream cars but, after a couple of drinks, he mentions the Ford RS200, Lancia Stratos, S4, Fulvia HF and 037, as well the Renault 5 Turbo as possible candidates. It’s golden-era rallying all over again, but in coachbuilt carbon fibre and with monstrous electric performance.

Although the place is bristling with enthusiasm and excitement, underlying scepticism pops up here and there. Is the car too expensive? Can a nameless brand succeed in a crowded niche? Are the performance numbers impressive? How about maintenance?

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Günther Riedl has the answers. “E-Legend is not a tech company nor a components supplier but a coachbuilder. Which is why we buy parts whenever we can, and we also standardise and simplify wherever possible.

This applies not only to items like the camera-based mirrors, touchscreens or concealed door handles, but also to high-tech parts such as the awesome Phi-Power motors (top-drawer axial-flux e-motors), which come straight ⊲from Formula E, or the brutally efficient batteries, with their 400km range – enough, indeed, for several laps of the Nürburgring at full chat.

“Is the price justified? Well, the efficiency of our cooling system is second to none, the software will surprise a few people, the light carbon-fibre monocoque is world-class, and the design speaks for itself. Plus, your EL1 will be unique, a one-off – this is coachbuilding, remember.”

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While a single e-motor takes care of the front wheels, the rear wheels are driven by a dual-motor unit with integrated differential. The combined power output is just north of 520kW. Hit the boost button to treat yourself to another wodge of power, lifting the total to a healthy 600kW, for a full 30 seconds. Powered by a relatively small 90kWh energy pack, the powertrain can accelerate the two-seater to 100km/h in 2.8sec and 200km/h in 9.0sec. Top speed is restricted to 257km/h.

The architecture is 800-volt, like the Porsche Taycan, and the charge power is at this point restricted to 150kW. Thanks to the homologation rules open to low-volume manufacturers, the EL1 can be type-approved in just about every country. To comply with safety legislation, airbags, ABS, stability control and selected assistance systems are all standard.

For obvious reasons, E-Legend wants to keep its own assembly infrastructure to a bare minimum. Complete rolling chassis will be sourced from Roding, where the staff has grown to 360 skilled workers. The Holzingers are currently converting the old single-storey office building where it all began into a tight yet modern and efficient bodyshop. In this pragmatic cubicle, bespoke exterior panels are to be added while the interior is trimmed to the customer’s unique specification.

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E-Legend is also planning an ultra-fast parts-supply chain. Only in the case of a major accident or a complete battery exchange will the car need to return to Roding. Similar procedures are standard with Bugatti, for instance. A direct distribution scheme will ensure an instant personal connection between future owners and the creators of his or her car.

Unlike the big players, start-ups like E-Legend can reduce the gestation cycle of a new model from four or five years to a timewarp 24 months. The software that combines design and engineering was written in just 30 days, the development process lasted six months, and the only prototype will be ready to roll in 12 months.

Says Egginger: “We don’t see ourselves as a classic start-up, which aspires to make lots of money fast only to be sold at a profit a couple of years later. We’re here to stay – and that’s a promise."

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Team E-Legend

MARCUS HOLZINGER: DESIGNER/FOUNDER

An Audi fan since forever, Holzinger loves fast cars and dreams of power-oversteering his quattros. The son of a coachbuilder father, he’s worked for more OEMs than he cares to recall. Knows how to blend functionality and emotion.

MANUEL EGGINGER: CO-FOUNDER

Egginger likes to think big, has a history of driving vintage and modern rally cars and wants to
see E-Legend grow way beyond its current one-hit-wonder status. Egginger manages the Inntal Porsche Centre in his other life.

GÜNTHER RIEDL: COMPOSITES ACE

A jack of all trades and well-respected carbon-fibre specialist, Riedl’s become an expert in e-drive systems and the required software. Runs a number of companies under the Roding umbrella, and consults for some major OEMs.

FABIAN STROBL: PR MACHINE

The chief marketing man, Strobl has his own PR and advertising agency and is a seasoned media pro. He brings an intriguing mix of analogue and digital skills to the table, and wants to set new standards in terms of customer journey.

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Legend’s view – 1983 champ Hannu Mikkola (1942-2021) on the original quattro

A gentle touch required

“I drove it a bit too hard early on. I always tried to get it to oversteer, because it naturally wanted to understeer, although on snow you have all four wheels pulling the quattro into bends. On tarmac its front-drive origins made it harsh. I was used to rear-wheel drive and wanted to get it sideways, but the Torsen diff wouldn’t let me.”

The rally drivers did the development work

“The Audi factory fully backed the rally effort because our work helped them evolve the road car. The problem was, we hadn’t done much testing on tarmac. All our testing in 1980 was on loose surfaces, to get the handling right on snow and gravel. But the quattro struggled on tarmac. Part of the problem was the rear differential. The car was essentially three-wheel drive in some corners, brutally pulling to the left and right. It took us until 1983 to sort it out.”

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It was a road car, not a specialised rally car

“Audi wanted people to believe four-wheel-drive passenger cars were the future. In 1981, our biggest battle of ideas was with Renault and its 5 Turbo, although not on gravel and snow. Renault chose to build a specialised rally car from scratch, whereas Audi aimed to build fast, safe road cars, not just win rallies. There were a lot of good people at Audi who could have designed a mid-engined rally car to beat Renault, Peugeot and Lancia, but we had to design a road car to be a rally car. Audi was using the rally team as a resource to develop road cars – that was the difference.”

A hell of a lot of lag

“The four-wheel-drive system wasn’t as difficult to adapt to as the turbo engine. The 1981 car had a hell of a lot of lag. I had to learn left-foot braking in order to keep the revs up and drive it against the brakes, which didn’t help the braking issues.

It had no power below 1000rpm, which made it difficult to drive on the Tour de Corse, an all-tarmac rally with lots of tight bends. Essentially the quattro was a front-wheel-drive car made four-wheel drive – and with the engine in front of the front axle, all the weight was up front. On tarmac rallies, this meant understeer and overheated front brakes…’