Origin of Audi cars

We all know the Audi car brand as a sports car, business car and marketed from the first four-wheel drive in a passenger car. But what is the history of this car, where did it all start?

It all started with the man August Horch, he started in 1899 as an ex-employee of Mercedes Benz his own car brand Horch in the town of Zwickau with 3 business partners. As a result of disputes with the rest of the board in 1909, August Horch sold his shares in the company, because Horch wanted to bring the brand awareness in the car races and apply more luxury in the cars, but the rest of the board did not agree with this. because it would be wasted money.

Horch wants to start a car brand again under the same name, this time in the city of Ingolstad in southern Germany. But of course it was not allowed to use two of the same names as a brand. After August Horch was charged with handling the Horch, he chose Audi which means Horch in Latin. This came by chance when he discussed the situation with a close friend of his, the close friend’s 10-year-old son said; Horch meansAudi in Latin, why don’t you use that name? No sooner said than done. The name Audi was born.

In 1932 the four brands DKW, Horch, Audi and Wanderer merged into one brand; Auto Union. at that time the logo of the four rings that we know today was also created. The four rings stood for the merger and was a tribute to the Olympics that would come to Germany in 1936. The brands continued to produce their own cars. 

In the second world war the Auto Union factory was used to make armored cars, and cars were temporarily not produced. Just after the war, Auto Union’s factory came into the hands of the Mercedes Benz brand, which launched a number of successful types, such as the 65, 50, 80 and 100.

In 1965 Volkswagen bought Auto Union, Mercedes Benz sold the type 60 there. This later came to be known as the post-war Audi 60. Mercedes Benz thought that this type would not be successful anyway and therefore sold it, they had made a mistake afterwards. Due to the success that resulted, Mercedes Benz had a strong competitor from that moment on. 

In 1969 the company NSU was added to Auto Union, their slogan was also taken and added to Auto Union “Vorsprung durch technik”. The company was named ” Audi NSU Auto Union “. In 1985 this changed into the name Audi AG 

In the 1970s, a whole series of new models were created that immediately proved to be the salvation of the parent company Volkswagen. The Audi 50 came on the same market as the Volkswagen Polo and Audi 80 as Volkswagen Passat.

Audi has always been known for their luxury models they brought to the market, as well as sturdy, safe cars. But the biggest fame they got was by marketing the Audi Quattro in the early 1980s. The very first four-wheel drive in a passenger car ever on the market.

The first time they entered the rally track with the Urquattro, they were laughed at. This could never be possible in a passenger car and the car and suspension could never keep this up. But they proved the opposite by being virtually invincible in the rally for several years in a row. 

Audi applied for and was granted a patent for the Quattro. Quattro is a self-contained company that only supplies Audi and still have a great partnership to this day.

In addition, Audi was the first to start with a female driver in the rally, this time they did not endear themselves. In the early 1990s, Audi started to make the body from aluminum. Audi came up with the 5 cylinder engines, Audi has not used these engines for a few years, but concluded that these engines were so strong that they started to produce them again. Until now, Audi has always acted differently in contrast to other brands and has always proved to be even stronger.