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He tested a [[Volkswagen Iltis]], a four-wheel drive military [[off-road vehicle]], with another engineer [[Roland Gumpert]] in the late 1970s in [[Finland]]. He proposed a four-wheel drive road vehicle in February 1977 to [[Ferdinand Piëch]], the head of R&D at Audi and [[Walter Treser]]. The go-ahead was given to test the idea with an [[Audi 80]], with an ''allrad'' (all-wheel) design, without a centre [[Differential (mechanical device)|differential]]. Parts from an [[Audi 100]] were also taken to produce the new transmission design.
The car received the backing from the board of management of Audi in September 1977. The vehicle was tested on the [[Turracher Höhe Pass]] in Austria, one of the steepest routes in Europe, climbing the snow-covered 23% gradient without [[Snow tire|snow tyre]]s. The vehicle was given to the head of R&D at Volkswagen, the Austrian [[Ernst Fiala (automotive engineer)|Ernst Fiala]], to test. A main feature is the dual-direction transmission system invented by Audi's head of transmission, [[Franz Tengler]].
The new car, a developed Audi Coupe (Audi 80 variation) under head of Audi design [[Hartmut Warkuß]], was launched in Europe in 1980. It had a 2.1 litre turbocharged ten-valve [[straight-five engine]] that produced 197 bhp; it could go from 0-60 mph in seven seconds. The car, driven by [[Michèle Mouton]], entered the [[1981 World Rally Championship]], and dominated the [[World Rally Championship]] (WRC) for the next years.
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