A small Scottish workshop has rebuilt the Audi Quattro around the B7 RS4's 4.2-liter V8 and six-speed manual, with 600 or 750 hp supercharged versions and two 10,000 rpm engines planned above them. Only 50 will be built, from about $470,000 before taxes and extras, with first deliveries due in late 2027.
The Audi Quattro made its name with a turbocharged five-cylinder. The car that a small British company revealed on Oct 30, 2026, keeps the Quattro's boxy shape and swaps everything underneath for an Audi V8 and a manual gearbox. It's called the Audacious IV, it's built near Edinburgh, Scotland, and the most extreme versions are meant to rev to 10,000 rpm (Autocar, Autoblog).
Audacious Automotive will build no more than 50. Prices start at £350,000, which the outlets put at about $470,000, before taxes, donor cars, shipping, registration and options. The first customer car is due in late 2027 (Autocar, The Supercar Blog, Audacious).
Every IV starts as a complete B7-generation Audi RS4, the 2006-2008 sport sedan. Audacious keeps its floor, suspension, brakes, steering, wiring and drivetrain: the 4.2-liter V8, the six-speed manual and Torsen all-wheel drive. Then it builds a new body on top (Audacious, evo). American buyers will know the donor. Audi sold the RS4 here with 420 hp and a six-speed manual as the only gearbox, and its V8 revved to 8,250 rpm (Audi press release, Car and Driver).
Why not use the five-cylinder from today's RS3? Founder Mac Zaglewski told Autocar the RS3 would have ruled out a manual. He also said its chassis is less stiff, its suspension "nowhere near as good," and its Haldex all-wheel drive sends power mostly to the front, where the RS4's Torsen system favors the rear. He wanted the car to be "very much usable, very much enjoyable and very much analogue" (Autocar).
Audacious offers the V8 in four forms (Audacious, Autocar, evo):
All four use the RS4's six-speed manual. evo notes that 10,000 rpm is about 20% above the stock RS4's limit. Audacious hasn't given power or torque figures for the two 10,000 rpm engines. It calls them separate engineering programs, each with its own design, testing and warranty. Engine work is being done with LAA Performance (evo, Audacious on LinkedIn).
The company's headline claims are 0-60 mph in under 3.4 seconds and a 200 mph top speed. Those are its own targets, not tested numbers (Audacious, evo). Zero2Turbo puts it plainly: treat the 10,000 rpm figure as a development target, not a proven production spec (Zero2Turbo).
Buyers choose between two bodies. Metal cars keep a real Quattro's roof, upper structure and glass, with new hand-formed steel and aluminum panels around them. Carbon-fiber cars get a completely new upper body and don't need an original Quattro at all (Audacious).
Audacious expects about 80% of buyers to go carbon. evo puts the split at 40 carbon cars and 10 metal ones. Zaglewski says that when a Quattro shell is used, he wants tired cars, not clean survivors (Autocar, evo). Target weights are 1,400-1,450 kg, about 3,090-3,200 lb, for metal cars and 1,200 kg, about 2,645 lb, for carbon. A stock RS4 weighs 1,650 kg, about 3,640 lb (Autocar, evo).
The styling borrows from the Group B rally Quattros, with hints of Audi's 90 IMSA GTO racer. That means huge box flares, white five-spoke wheels, four tailpipes and a tall slotted rear wing. There are no Audi badges. Audacious uses its own name on the grille, and it says it isn't affiliated with Audi (Autocar, Autoblog, Audacious).
The cabin drops the RS4's digital equipment for a new dashboard, analog gauges and new switchgear. It keeps the RS4's "wingback" sport seats with power adjustment (Autocar, Zero2Turbo). The first car is trimmed in tan leather with tartan inserts. evo reads that as a nod to the company's Edinburgh base (evo). Paint, trim, suspension tuning and engine choice are all set with each buyer, and Audacious says no two cars will be the same. The car pictured is a 750 hp road-spec car in Zermatt Silver (Autocar).
This isn't Audacious's first appearance. Autocar and Hagerty first reported the project in March 2026, when it promised a supercharged RS4 V8 with at least 600 hp in a Quattro body (Autocar, March 2026, Hagerty). The 10,000 rpm engine options followed in July (evo). What's new now is the finished design, the four-engine lineup, the price and the delivery timing. Zaglewski says the full process takes about three years, from commission to a car on the road (Autocar).
Building it on the RS4 is the smart part. The RS4 is a stiff, proven, rear-biased all-wheel-drive car with a manual gearbox and a V8 that already loves to rev. So Audacious doesn't have to engineer a new chassis, and the original Quattro's weak points don't come along with it. The 600 and 750 hp cars look like the realistic ones. The 10,000 rpm engines are still a promise, with no power figures yet.
The price puts it right next to the most respected rally restomod. Kimera opened orders for its Lancia 037-inspired EVO37 at €450,000 in 2021, and one is now estimated above what original 037s have sold for (AutoNext). Audacious is a much newer name, though. It has shown one car and has no delivery record yet.
Tom and Debra Kazamek took a red 1980s Testarossa coupe, cut the roof off, put the flat-twelve under glass and rebuilt nearly everything you touch. The result is bold, a little outrageous, and the best argument yet for reimagining an icon.
