The father of the original Quattro - Walter Treser (obituary)
11/18/2021
Car fans know Walter Treser mainly as the "father of the quattro", but his life's work is even more significant. He was born on April 18, 1940 in Bad König in the Odenwald. At the age of eight, he was already behind the wheel of an Opel Blitz and the handlebars of a Sachs motorcycle. He studied automotive engineering and aircraft construction, but wanted to become a racing driver. In 1962 and 1963, he drove as a works driver for Auto Union and in 1964 he bought a Lotus-DKW Formula 3. However, the money did not last too long and it was not until 1967 that he was able to race touring cars again for BMW-Alpina.
His professional career began as a test manager at Veith-Pirelli, but in 1976 he became head of vehicle concept development at Audi. He was the driving force behind the development of the Audi quattro and also contributed the name "quattro". He then became Head of Sport and enabled Hannu Mikkola and Michèle Mouton to achieve the first quattro successes in the World Rally Championship.
At the beginning of the 1980s, there was a turning point and Treser founded his own company for automotive engineering and design.
With the Treser TR 1, the enthusiastic automotive engineer realized his dream of building his own sports car. The drive technology came from the VW modular system and production was to take place in Berlin. Despite hundreds of purchase contracts and options, series production could not be financed.
Treser finally returned to motorsport, this time as racing manager at Opel. The success of the four-wheel drive Calibra in the DTM was due in no small part to him. He took his well-deserved retirement in 2003. However, he remained connected to the quattro and Treser enthusiasts, not least as Honorary President of the Treser Club.
Walter Treser passed away on November 13, 2021 after a serious illness.
