Audi is a car manufacturing company with a great history. Today data about it is provided in many places that come to say how proud the owners of this manufacturer are. In fact, there are many things that make them proud.
The foundation of the company is November 14, 1899. This is the date on which August Horch (1868 – 1951) established the company A. Horch & Cie which was the starting point of the Audi we know today. This company was established in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, where August Horch built his first car model. The car was finished during 1901 and in March of the following year the company moved to Reichenbach in Saxony.
Two years later, the company became a public limited company. During that time another change of location occurred. The same year, on May 10, 1904, a company was established in Zwicka under the name of A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagen-Werke AG.
It is interesting to know that the right-hand drive has its origins in the days of horses where carriages were used. The coachman sat on the right side of this vehicle and that was lately implemented in the first car model that August Horch developed, but then Audi was the first to offer another solution that became really better. This solution is driving on the left. It made possible a safer way of driving because the driver has a better view of oncoming traffic. All maneuvers are easier when driving on the left and this is the reason why it is still used more frequently today. The first car to use left hand drive is called the Audi Type K and this happened in 1921.
The year 1926 is really significant because during this year Horchwerke AG from Zwickau presented the first eight-cylinder car. The Horch was the name of that car and it was the first eight-cylinder German car to go into series production. Paul Daimler designed the engine with a double overhead camshaft. They were driven by shafts placed vertically to the entire body of the camshafts. This made it possible for a 60 horsepower engine to be created.
Two years later, in 1928, the first DKW car appeared. That happened because Rasmussen finally got the powerful engine he needed. That engine is a 600cc, 15hp two-cylinder motorcycle unit form.
Rasmussen obtained the majority of the shares of Audiwerke AG. in 1928 and made the DKW small car front-wheel drive. Later it was produced in large quantities at the same company. This event occurred in 1931 and the car had a wooden body. An imitation leather was made on the wooden body and the old two-stroke engine was used to power the car.
Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer came together on June 29, 1932 to create the new Auto Union AG. This was quite a big event because these 4 brands were the car manufacturing giants from Saxony. Together they established their head office in Chemnitz. They were able to attend to the entire production process and made many models, including luxury cars.
The following year, 1933, at the Berlin Motor Show, Auto Union AG presented the first full-size passenger car with front-wheel drive to the general public. For that car a six-cylinder engine was used.
A year later, a new design for better aerodynamic appeal won a race and greatly increased the popularity of Auto Union. The winning race car was based on designs by Ferdinand Porsche. The six-cylinder engine was installed at the rear of the vehicle behind the driver. That made it possible for less drag to occur, and because of that, less power was lost.
In 1936 a new company headquarters was founded in Chemnitz. During the same year, the entire manufacturing process with the main facilities for design, development and testing was also located there.
In 1937, an Auto Union racing car exceeded the speed of 400 km/h. That world record proved that this company got the most out of its cars: extreme light engine power of 545 horsepower and fine aerodynamic design. Even today we talk respectfully about such a high speed and can only imagine what a high-tech product these cars were for their time.
In 1938, Auto Union AG was the first to carry out crash tests. They wanted to see the different ways it could happen and this made possible more and better designs with respect to passenger safety. This is a major problem in today’s industry and we must pay our respects to the first who thought of it.
Civilian production was interrupted due to the war in May 1940, and the company started production mainly for military purposes. During that time special vehicles were developed that were more durable and with the ability to last even in harsher conditions.
In 1945, Auto Union disappeared by order of the Soviet military administration in Germany. The plants were dismantled for repairs and all company assets were lost in the process. In 1948, the company was removed from the Mercantile Registry and August 17, 1948 was recorded as its last day.
On September 3, 1949, a new company was established under the name Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt. Some loans from the Bavarian state government and the Marshall Plan made this possible. The production process began in the same year.
Many events occur in the future of this company and everything that happened made possible the founding of Audi as we know it today. New world records were made and new designs were created. In 1991 design studies made it possible for the Audi quattro Spyder and another fine design to be produced under the name Audi Avus quattro.
In 1993, some aluminum elements made the cars lighter, which was a trend for many years.
One of the last significant things to happen was in March 1994. It was then that Audi AG introduced a new car model – the Audi A8. This was a huge attraction at the Geneva Motor Show.