Audi History
Audi is a name synonymous with quality and superior manufacturing - but where did this car come from and how, in its 101 year history, has it become the lauded option for automotive option that it is today?
The first new car was the Audi 100 in 1968, later followed by the Audi 50 in 1972, Volkswagen later introduced the USA to the Audio models in 1970. The new company was known as Audi NSU Auto Union AG, seeing Audi as a separate brand since pre-war period. In 1969, Auto Union merged with NSU, a fellow German manufacturer, who had specialised in motorcycles but aimed for smaller cars.
It was only in 1959 that the company were able to construct a plant at the Ingolstadt site. There was, however, no dedicated plant for effective mass production of vehicles. A new Auto Union was launched in Bavaria in 1949 and continued to develop two-stroke engine vehicles. The former Audi factory in Zwickau restarted construction of pre-war models in 1949. These factories were later dismantled and Germany's Auto Union AG was liquidated.
Unfortunately, due to Germany's involvement in World War II, the Auto Union plants were drastically altered to cater for military production and were consequently heavily bombed. Auto Union vehicles also featured the trademark four rings that are present on Audi cars today. Within this, they also created the first European car that combined a six cylinder engine with front-wheel drive. In 1932, Audi agreed to merge with Horch, Wanderer and DJW to form Auto Union. Following Horch's departure from Audi in 1920, Jorgen Rasmussen acquired the majority of Audi shares in 1928.
Audi also released a six cylinder vehicle in 1924. In 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer of a production car, the Audi Type K - which was a huge success for the company. The first Audi car ever manufactured was a 2,612 cc, four cylinder model, which proved to be popular in sporting events. Interestingly, Audi is the Latin translation of the word, 'Horch', which would translate to 'hear' in English.
This company was originally called Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH but after a trademark infringement dispute with his previous company (Horch), the company was renamed Audi Automobilwerke GmbH in 1910. Audi has origins of existing since 1909 after August Horch was forced out of car manufacturers Horch and set up a competing company in Zwickau.
