# "The Sport quattro is Ugly." Ex-Audi Designer Peter Birtwhistle Makes Us Cry.



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

Here's a headline you don't see every day. *Audi Sport Quattro "is ugly”* popped up on our daily news search over on AutoCar.co.uk. Seems the designer of the Audi homologation special and rally icon Peter Birtwhistle was a bit critical of the car in some comments made to the UK weekly car mag about the more modern quattro Concept.

Birtwhistle, now chief designer for Mazda Europe, sited difficulty in strtching the quattro look over the Audi 80 was difficult. "Although we did what we needed to do, it looks awful," said the Mazda design chief and former Audi designer.

Okay, we're not blind. We can see the snubby Sport quattro wasn't exactly a Ferrari 250 of any ilk but that's kind of the point. The original Audi quattro and Giugiaro penned 80 were both icons of the late 70s and early 80s Block Design Era. Though not the most elegant, the more brutish Sport quattro was the culmination of that era, mixing in purely functional cues for improved engine ventilation, wider track and shorter overall length to make the car more agile (albeit skittish) on the tight rally courses where long wheelbase quattros were forced to do a 3-pointer. Any changes were simply needed for a better overall performer and thus made the car that much more beautiful in the eyes of racing and performance minded petrolheads. The car's _ugliness_ was its beauty.

Read more at AutoCar after the jump.

* Full Story *


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## WAUOla (Apr 15, 2005)

I'm glad he's at Mazda...


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## speedtek40 (Jul 8, 2005)

the man has no taste....it's gorgeous, utilitarian, purposeful, mean and hot, but certainly not ugly.....


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## andysch5 (Apr 5, 2009)

the new Mazda 3's are ugly.


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## 10980 (Jun 13, 2010)

ha the mazda 5 is so ugly


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