Seasoned cricket enthusiasts still remember the day in 1985 when Ravi Shastri, then captain of Team India won an Audi 100. The executive car was gifted to him because he was lauded with the Champion of Champions award in the backdrop of India’s victory in the 1985 Benson & Hedges Cricket World Championship. The very same car (MFA 1) was displayed at the official launch event for the new Audi A3 Sedan in New Delhi yesterday, where Ravi Shastri himself was present.
The Audi 100, one of the most commercially successful models in the company’s history, was manufactured from 1968 to 1994. The first-generation model came equipped with 1.8 litre four-cylinder petrol engines in three states of tune, ranging from 80 PS to 100 PS. There was even a Coupé version which employed the same engine bored out to 1.9 litres and developing 115 PS. In 1972, the second-generation model, the C2 100 was launched with 136 PS and evolved styling.
The third generation Audi 100, launched in September 1982, is the one gifted to Ravi Shastri. It was one of the first cars in the world to feature flush fitting windows, resulting in an impressive drag coefficient of .30. The third generation model featured around 14 different kinds of engine configurations, ranging from a 1.8 litre petrol engine to a 2.5 litre diesel engine, with power outputs ranging from 75 PS to 165 PS.
The third-generation Audi 100 also formed the base of something revolutionary. At the 1990 Geneva Motor Show, Audi presented a plug-in parallel hybrid concept model of this car called the Audi Duo (Audi 100 Avant Duo). It featured a 9.4kW Siemens electric motor delivering 12.8 PS and drove the rear wheels, while the front wheels were driven by a 2.3 litre petrol engine good for 136 PS.The boot space of the vehicle was loaded with a nickel-cadmium battery that powered the electric motor.
