History of Audi
Audi has a magnificent and interesting history that fascinates the imaginations of all automobile fanatics. This German automobile manufacturer traces its roots to a series of events that took place in the early twentieth century. Though, the history of Audi goes beyond the early twentieth century. Audi’s emblem “Four Rings” which is recognized by the whole world today has its own story.
A German engineer, August Horch, started his own company in Cologne, Germany on 14th November 1899 and named it August Horch & Cie. where he built his first car in the year of 1901. Later in 1902 the company was moved to Reichenbach and then in 1904, the company was moved to Zwickau in the state of Saxony, Germany. This is where the company became a share-issuing company.
In the year of 1909, as a result of clash of opinions with the supervisory board, particularly with the chief financial officer, August Horch left the company and moved on to start the second venture in Zwickau which he named August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. However the brand name Horch was already in use by the other company so he was legally forced to change the name of his company. It is said that the name Audi was given by the son of one of his business partners. In German, Horch means ‘hear’ and the Latin translation of the word is Audi.
In the year of 1921, Audi rolled out Audi Type K with left-handed drive. This was the first German car with left-handed drive. The left-handed drive became popular as it had better and safer driving experience.
By the end of 1930s, the economies around the world were going through the toughest phase they had ever seen. The World War II was going on and Germany was at the centre of this all. Corporations were looking for survival. Later on in the year of 1932, Audi merged with three other car manufacturing companies which were Horch, DKW and Wanderer and the combined entity was called Auto Union. This merger took place during the Great Depression. Then in the year of 1936, Auto Union established itself in Chemnitz, Saxony. Auto Union, then invited August Horch who had retired from the board and was pursuing his career as an expert consultant in the automobile engineering field, to its supervisory board.
All the four companies kept making cars under their own brand name, but gradually the technological aspects were being controlled. So as a result, Audi ended up using the engines developed by Wanderer and Horch.
Before World War II, Auto Union created its emblem, ‘Four Rings’ which represents all the four companies that merged together. This emblem is the face of the modern day Audi that has now become a part of the gigantic Volkswagen Group.
Audi AG is currently one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers. It is one of the popular car brand for luxury cars and enjoys a huge brand equity. Audi demonstrates the vision of its founding members because of which a car manufacturer that was started with a modest beginning has now reached to the level that it is today.
It now produces the cars in a series of platforms:
1) A1
2) A3
3) A4
4) A5
5) A6
6) A7
7) A8
- Audi A8
8) Q Series
- Audi Q3
- Audi Q5
- Audi Q7
9) R Series
- Audi RS3
- Audi RS5
10) TT Series
Every segment has its own charm and craze all over the world now. The cars now produced have a definitive target consumers. Each and every car is now a hit in market and is competing with many bold rivals along the way.