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Audi is an automobile maker in Germany, part of the Volkswagen group, VAG. The company is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany.
The motto of Audi is: "Vorsprung durch Technik" which translates to "Progress through Technology".
The company traces its origins back to 1899 and August Horch. The first Horch automobile was produced by him in 1901 in Zwickau, East Germany. In 1910, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded. He founded a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and the German court stated that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was obliged to refrain from using his family name in connection with cars. As the word "horch!" is old German for "listen!", August Horch used the Latin equivalent of his name, "audi!" for his next effort.
Audi started with a 2612cc model followed by four cylinder 3564cc, 4680cc and 5720cc models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. August Horch left the Audi company in 1920. The first six cylinder model (4655cc) appeared in 1924. In 1928, the company was acquired by J S Rasmussen, owner of DKW, who bought the same year the remains of the US automobile manufacturer Rickenbacker including the manufacturing equipment for eight cylinder engines. These engines were used in Audi Zwickau and Audi Dresden models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, six cylinder and a small four cylinder (licensed from Peugeot) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.
In 1932 Audi merged with Horch, DKW and Wanderer to form the Auto Union. Before World War II, Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, representing these four brands. This badge was used, however, only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch or Wanderer built engines.
Auto Union plants were heavily bombed and partly destroyed during World War II. After the war, Zwickau soon became part of the German Democratic Republic and the Audi company had to be moved to Ingolstadt. In that period, the four interlinked rings were used together with the DKW badge. The company focused efforts on the DKW brand, but their two-stroke engines became unpopular. In 1958, Daimler-Benz company acquired 88% of Auto Union and the next year became its sole owner. Daimler-Benz developed a 72 hp (54 kW) 4-door sedan, with a modern four stroke engine driving the front wheels. Daimler-Benz sold the company to Volkswagen in 1964. By the time this model appeared in September 1965, "relaunching" the Audi brand, the Audi company was owned by Volkswagen. (see VAG.
In the 1970s, Audi merged with NSU, based in Neckarsulm near Stuttgart. In the 1950s NSU had been the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles but had moved on to produce small cars like the NSU Prinz (the TT and TTS versions are still popular as vintage race cars). NSU then focused on new rotary engines according to the ideas of Felix Wankel. In 1967, the new NSU Ro 80 was a space age car well ahead of its time in technical details such as aerodynamics, light weight, safety, et cetera, but teething problems with the rotary engines put an end to the independence of NSU. Presently several lines of Audi cars are produced in Neckarsulm.
Over the next thirty years Audi released a series of derivatives of this model at various power ratings. With the "quattro" of the 1980s, a 4WD turbocharged sportscar, Audi distinguished itself as leader in technology, despite not selling too many of the original "Ur-quattro". The Ur-Quattro is the first Audi Quattro produced, and it has been named that way in order to be distinguished from later Quattro models.
The early set of cars had culminated in the Audi 80, from which all subsequent generations descend, expanded by the "quattro" features. In 1986, as the Audi 80 was beginning to develop a kind of "grandfather's car" image, the type 89 was introduced. This completely new development sold extremely well. However, its modern and dynamic exterior belied the low performance of its base engine, and its base package was quite spartan (even the passenger-side mirror was an option.) In 1987, Audi put forward a new and very elegant Audi 90, which had a much superior set of standard features. In the early nineties, sales began to slump for the Audi 80 series, and some basic construction problems started to surface.
This decline in sales was not helped in the USA by a 60 Minutes report which purported to show that Audi automobiles suffered from "unintended acceleration". The 60 Minutes report was based on customer reports of acceleration when the brake pedal was pushed. Independent investigators concluded that this was most likely due to a close placement of the accelerator and brake pedals (unlike American cars), and the inability to distinguish between the two. (In race cars, when manually downshifting under heavy braking, the accelerator has to be used in order to match revs properly, so both pedals have to be close to each other to be operated by the right foot at once, toes on the brake, heels on the gas. US citizens are used to automatic gearboxes and only two well separated pedals).
60 Minutes ignored this fact and set up a car to perform in an uncontrolled manner. The report immediately crushed Audi sales, and forced the renaming of the effected model (the 5000 become the 100/200, as in Germany and elsewhere). Audi sales did not recover until the mid-1990s, with the release of the A4/6/8 series, which was developed together with VW and other sister brands (so called "platforms").
Audi's reputation over the years has been for high performance cars and leading technology. The company has participated (and sometimes dominated) in numerous rallies and racing competitions.
In 1980 Audi released the Quattro, an all wheel drive turbocharged car that went on to win rallies and races worldwide. It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time. and was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of all-wheel-drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of all-wheel-drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was an instant success, winning its first rally on its first outing. It won competition after competition for the next two years.
In 1995 Audi was barred from entering its Audi S4 into the British Touring Car Championships because of its domination on the sport. The Quattro (four-wheel drive) system was banned because Audi was unbeatable in the competition.
In 2004 Audi returned to touring car racing by entering two factory supported Joest Racing A4s in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft series.
Beginning in 1999, Audi built the Audi R8 to compete in sports car racing, including the LMP900 class at the 24 hours of Le Mans. The factory supported Joest Racing team won at Le Mans three times in a row (2000 - 2002), as well as winning every race in the American Le Mans Series in its first year. Audi also sold the car to customer teams such as Champion Racing. In 2003, two Bentley galvanized vehicles to prevent corrosion. An all-aluminum car was brought forward by Audi, and in 1997 the Audi A8 was launched, which introduced aluminum space frame technology. Audi introduced a new series of vehicles in the mid-nineties and continues to pursue leading-edge technology and high performance.
The all-aluminium concept was extended to the company's new luxury sub-compact, the Audi A2 which was launched in 2001.
Since the 1970s, Audi (along with Subaru) has pioneered four wheel drive in passenger automobiles with their Quattro system.
In the 1980s, Audi was the champion of the 5 cylinder engine as a higher mileage alternative to more traditional 6 cylinder engines.
At the turn of the millennium, Audi introduced the Direct Shift Gearbox, a manual transmission that has a smooth automatic mode. The system includes dual electrohydraulically controlled clutches instead of a torque convertor. This is implemented in some Volkswagen Golf, Audi A3 and TT models.
The following is a list of models Audi ostensibly plans to offer in the United States at some point in time.
The following is a partial list of concepts.
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