Audi AG is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The origins of the company are complex, dating back to the early 20th century and the initial enterprises (Horch and the Audiwerke) founded by engineer August Horch. Two other manufacturers (DKW and Wanderer) also contributed to the foundation of Auto Union in 1932. The modern Audi era began in the 1960s, when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz. Volkswagen relaunched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series, and merged Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, thus creating the present-day form of the company.
The company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. , meaning 'listen, hark' in German, translates to in Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audi's predecessor company, Auto Union. Audi's slogan is , which is translated as 'Progress through Technology'. Audi became a sister to Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (more commonly known as Porsche AG) following Volkswagen Group's 100% acquisition of the latter in 2012, and along with German brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz, is among the best-selling luxury automobile brands in the world.
History
Birth of the company and its name Automobile company Wanderer was originally established in 1885, later becoming a branch of Audi AG. Another company, NSU, which also later merged into Audi, was founded during this time, and later supplied the chassis for Gottlieb Daimler's four-wheeler.
On 14 November 1899, August Horch (1868–1951) established the company A. Horch & Cie. in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne. In 1902, he moved with his company to Reichenbach im Vogtland. On 10 May 1904, he founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, a joint-stock company in Zwickau (State of Saxony).
After troubles with the Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement. The German Reichsgericht (Supreme Court) in LeipzigAudi AG motion picture 1994: "The Silver Arrows from Zwickau", running time approx. 49 mins. eventually determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company.Audi History audiusa.com
Since August Horch was prohibited from using horch as a trade name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting, Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, "Father – audiatur et altera pars... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead of horch?".August Horch: "Ich baute Autos – Vom Schmiedelehrling zum Autoindustriellen", Schützen-Verlag Berlin 1937 Horch in German means 'hark' or 'hear', which is audi in the singular imperative form of audire—'to listen'—in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau (from 1915 on Audiwerke AG Zwickau) was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court.
The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10/ Sport-Phaeton, was produced in the same year, followed by the successor Type B 10/28PS in the same year.
Audi started with a 2,612 cc straight-four engine model Type A, followed by a 3,564 cc model, as well as 4,680 cc and 5,720 cc models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. The first six-cylinder model Type M, 4,655 cc appeared in 1924.
August Horch left the Audiwerke in 1920 for a high position at the ministry of transport, but he was still involved with Audi as a member of the board of trustees. In September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car, the Audi Type K, with left-handed drive.Audi chronicle 1915–1929. audi.com Left-hand drive spread and established dominance during the 1920s because it provided a better view of oncoming traffic, making overtaking safer when driving on the right.
The merger of the four companies under the logo of four rings
In August 1928, Jørgen Rasmussen, the owner of Dampf-Kraft-Wagen (DKW), acquired the majority of shares in Audiwerke AG.Audi chronicle 1930–1944. Audi.com In the same year, Rasmussen bought the remains of the U.S. automobile manufacturer Rickenbacker, including the manufacturing equipment for 8-cylinder engines. These engines were used in Audi Zwickau and Audi Dresden models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, 6-cylinder and 4-cylinder (the "four" with a Peugeot engine) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.
In 1932, Audi merged with Horch, DKW, and Wanderer, to form Auto Union AG, Chemnitz. It was during this period that the company offered the Audi Front that became the first European car to combine a six-cylinder engine with front-wheel drive. It used a power train shared with the Wanderer, but turned 180 degrees, so that the drive shaft faced the front.
Before World War II, Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, referring to Audi's history as Auto Union and its present day, the four letters for A, U, D and I. However, this badge was used only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch- or Wanderer-built engines.
Reflecting the economic pressures of the time, Auto Union concentrated increasingly on smaller cars through the 1930s, so that by 1938 the company's DKW brand accounted for 17.9% of the German car market, while Audi held only 0.1%. After the final few Audis were delivered in 1939 the "Audi" name disappeared completely from the new car market for more than two decades.
World War II Richard Bruhn, a Nazi party member, was Auto Union's chairman of the board from 1932 to 1945 and then again after the war when the company was reestablished. In 2014 Audi became the last major German car company, after Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, to commission a study of its wartime activities.Audi's Nazi past, May 26, 2014, DW, https://www.dw.com/en/audi-comes-clean-about-its-nazi-past/a-17664050 The investigation found that the company worked with the SS to build seven labor camps where more than 3,700 prisoners were put to work for Auto Union.May 26, 2014, Audi Used Forced Labour under Nazis in Germany, The Local.de, https://www.thelocal.de/20140526/audi-used-forced-labour-under-nazis-in-germany In addition, 16,500 more people were forced to work at the company's factories in Zwickau and Chemnitz, and another 18,000 at an underground plant in Bavaria where 4,500 people died.
Some of the company's factories were bombed by the Allies.
Post-World War II
With no prospect of continuing production in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Auto Union executives began the process of relocating what was left of the company to West Germany. A site was chosen in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, to start a spare parts operation in late 1945, which would eventually serve as the headquarters of the reformed Auto Union in 1949.
On 17 August 1948, Auto Union AG of Chemnitz was deleted from the commercial register. These actions had the effect of liquidating Germany's Auto Union AG. The remains of the Audi plant of Zwickau became the VEB (for "People Owned Enterprise") or AWZ (in English: Automobile Works Zwickau).
The former Audi factory in Zwickau restarted assembly of the pre-war models in 1949. These DKW models were renamed to IFA F8 and IFA F9 and were similar to the West German versions. West and East German models were equipped with the traditional and renowned DKW two-stroke engines. The Zwickau plant later manufactured the infamous Trabant until 1991, after it was acquired by the Volkswagen Group following the reunification of Germany, and has since been substantially rebuilt. In 2021, production of the Audi Q4 e-tron began at the plant, marking the return of Audis being manufactured at Zwickau after over 80 years.
New Auto Union unit A new West German headquartered Auto Union was launched in Ingolstadt with loans from the Bavarian state government and Marshall Plan aid. The reformed company was launched 3 September 1949 and continued DKW's tradition of producing front-wheel drive vehicles with two-stroke engines. This included production of a small but sturdy 125 cc motorcycle, the DKW RT 125 W and a DKW delivery van, the DKW F89 L at Ingolstadt. The Ingolstadt site was large, consisting of an extensive complex of formerly military buildings which was suitable for administration as well as vehicle warehousing and distribution, but at this stage there was at Ingolstadt no dedicated plant suitable for mass production of automobiles: for manufacturing the company's first post-war mass-market passenger car plant capacity in Düsseldorf was rented from Rheinmetall-Borsig. It was only ten years later, after the company had attracted an investor, when funds became available for construction of major car plant at the Ingolstadt head office site.
In 1958, in response to pressure from Friedrich Flick, then the company's largest single shareholder,Oswald, p 263 Daimler-Benz took an 87% holding in the Auto Union company, and this was increased to a 100% holding in 1959. However, small two-stroke cars were not the focus of Daimler-Benz's interests, and while the early 1960s saw major investment in new Mercedes models and in a state of the art factory for Auto Union's, the company's aging model range at this time did not benefit from the economic boom of the early 1960s to the same extent as competitor manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Opel. The decision to dispose of the Auto Union business was based on its lack of profitability. Ironically, by the time it sold the business, it also included a large new factory and near production-ready modern four-stroke engine, which would enable the Auto Union business, under a new owner, to embark on a period of profitable growth, now producing not Auto Unions or DKWs, but using the "Audi" name, resurrected in 1965 after a 25-year gap.