Audi Quattro model to return in time for 35th anniversary?

The Audi Quattro Concept revealed at the 2010 Paris Motor Show has, quietly, been trying to get enough traction to make a real run at production. The last we heard about it was April 2011, when the prototype engineers had a running model based on the S5 that was about 500 pounds lighter than an R8. In a poll we ran with that news, nearly 61 percent of you said you'd be interested in buying a production version of the Quattro if it were cheaper than the R8. If a report in German magazine Auto Bild is to be believed, you 61-percenters could be in luck.

Their report presents a coupe that is all kinds of tweener, having a stance "halfway between the Q5 and A5," weight between the A1 and A3, power between the S5 and RS5, and a price between the TT RS and R8. Power's been pegged at 375 horsepower from a 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder (the concept we drove in 2010 put out 408 hp from the same engine), moving a four-seater coupe weighing in at around 3,000 pounds(!). As for price, it's supposedly being plotted to fill the gap between the TT RS and R8. We have no idea what to do with that stance prediction, though, since that would take the production car in the opposite direction of the ground-hugging svelteness of the concept, but even if just three out of four prognostications come true, this will be a seriously lusty piece of metal. With those specs, we'd also think the pricing would lean more toward the R8 end of the scale.

Annual sales predictions have come down to 10,000 per year from the 35,000 initially mentioned. As for when we might see any of them, Auto Bild says the car's internal name of Q35 suggests it would be Quattro's 35th anniversary gift to the world, meaning some time around 2015.