This famous German luxury car maker started life on 14th November 1899 as August Horch & Co. August Horch was a skilled car blacksmith and engineer who once worked for Carl Benz of Mercedes Benz.
Audi History
The name Horch means “listen” and in Latin the word is “Audi.” And so this is the name that was later adopted by Horch for his new car company and stuck.
What followed was a very eventful history during which the Audi name was lent to very different motorized vehicles. For instance through the 20s into the early 30s Audi was best known for luxurious cars with exceptional bodywork.
These were the years when the auto industry was still very much in its’ infancy. During World War II the Audi company produced Sd-Kfz 222 armoured cars. This was one of the key vehicles in the German war effort.
It was fast (50 miles per hour), and powerful (V8 engine that produced 60 horsepower). In 1964 Volkswagen bought out the factory in Ingolstadt, Germany and in the process got the trademark rights for Audi.
The Audi 100 of 1968 saw a transformation into a more modern body shell type for the car marque. What followed was the Audi 80 which was also used by Volkswagen and packaged as their own Volkswagen Passat of 1972.
The Audi 50 followed and was also released as the Volkswagen Polo of 1974. This was the engine and make-up that led to the wildly successful Volkswagen Golf which sold impressively around the world.
Audi also became famous for being one of the first car companies to venture into a unique type of four-wheel drive technology which they did with the Audi Quattro turbo charged coupe. This was the first German large scale production car with permanent all wheel drive through a centre differential.
Today Audi is still a well-respected name in the auto industry and sales have been growing steadily, especially in Europe in recent times even as it remains associated with innovation.
A good example is the computerized control system Audi has introduced known as the Multi Media Interface (MMI). The system controls various things like radio, satellite navigation TV, heating and other car controls in one screen.
