Published on Fri Dec 09 2022

The History Of The Car Manufacturer Audi

Audi GA is a German manufacturer and designer of luxury automobiles commonly known as Audi. The base of operations of Audi is situated in Ingolstadt, a city in Bavaria, Germany. Volkswagen is a subsidiary company based on Audi GA. They have nine production houses in the world. The company has a complicated origin; back in the progressive era, the Horch company was founded by August Horch, DKW, and Wanderer, these manufacturers built and founded the Auto Union back in 1932.

Volkswagen acquired the Auto Union in the middle of 1960, and this was a time when the modern era of Audi began. They acquired the company from Daimler-Benz, which is also one of the well-known brands in the name of Mercedes. The first car from Audi was the F103 series, which was launched when the Audi brand was launched in 1965. In 1969 Volkswagen decided to merge the Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke, this is how the present-day company is formed.

The company name was based on the surname of the founder of the company, and the translation is based on the Latin language. For example, August Horch was the founder of Audi, his surname, Horch, means to listen in the German language, and the Latin translation of listen is Audi, so the company was named Audi.

History of Audi

Wanderer, an automobile company, was originally established in 1885 and later became a part of Audi AG. NSU was one of the companies that were founded during that time and also became an aspect of Audi. NSU later used to supply exteriors or frames to four-wheelers made by Gottlieb Daimler. Gottlieb Daimler was a great German engineer and designer, and he was the first to found and build internal combustion engines. Apart from this, he also developed the automobile and invented petroleum-fuelled engines, which were very fast back then.

August Horch established the company on the 14th of November 1899. He named his company A. Horch and Cie, it was situated in Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, however, in 1902, August moved his company to Reichenbach, Vogtland. Finally, he started a joint company in Zwickau on 10th May 1904 and named it August Horch and Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG.

In 1909 August had trouble with his financial officer, he left the Motorwagenwerke and decided to start a second company in Zwickau. August founded and named his company August Horch Automobilewerke GmbH on 16th July 1909. Unfortunately, his former partner took legal action for violating trademarks, the case was pursued in the supreme court of Leipzig, Germany. The judge determined that the Horch branch belonged to his previous company and, since then, August was not able to use Horch's name as his trademark.

The naming of the company

August Horch was prohibited from using his last name because of the case filed by his former partner, so he decided to call a meeting with his other partners, counsellors, and his friends who were in Zwickau. They all discussed the naming of the company in August's apartment, Franz Fikentscher was also part of the meeting, and during that time his son was studying Latin in the corner of the room. His son tried to say something several times, but due to shyness, he stopped himself, after some time he was unable to control himself and said: "Father – auditor et al tera pars" in the Latin language, which means Father would be ideal to call it Audi instead of Horch. Everyone at the meeting liked that idea so much and supported it, so finally, it became Audi Automobilewerke GmbH Zwickau in 1910, but later, in 1915, Audi was registered with the name Audiwerke AG Zwickau in the court.

The company stated their production with a 10/22 horsepower sport-phaeton which was followed by successor B 10/28PS in the next year. The first cc inline-four engines were started in the type A model and also other types, these cars became successful, even in sporting events. Later in the 1920s, August left his company because he was selected for a high position in the ministry of transportation, although he left his company, he was still a member of the board. In September 1921 they produced a car that was a type K with steering on the left hand side, Audi was the first brand to produce this type of car. Left hand drive cars became very popular after 1921 because left handed driving provides a better driving angle and better road view for drivers, left hand drive car rules have been applied to many countries after the production of the type K cars.

What is the meaning of the four rings in Audi?

In August 1928, the owner of Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, Jorgen Rasmussen, acquired most of the shares in Audiwerke Ag, and after that he bought the U.S automobile Manufacturer Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker’s equipment for manufacturing 8-cylinder engines was also included in the deal.

Later in 1932, the Audi Company merged with Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, Horch and Wanderer to form Auto Union AG, and the four rings in the Audi car represented the four combined companies of Audi.

Audi is now one of the best car selling companies in the world, the company uses luxury car designers and manufacturers. Audi is not only luxurious, but the build quality of these cars is also very high and provides the user with a lot of features, such as air suspension, airbags, luxury seats and interior space, a high top speed, and much more.

This car marque would be an ideal choice for car lovers because they provide cars of many types, such as racing, classic, and many more. The best race car from the company is R8 LMS Gt3, and it is one of the top sports cars in the racing world. Some of the best cars of all time that were produced by Audi are the RS2, Audi TT, Audi R8 Le Mans Prototype, R18 Ultra and E-Tron.