CREATING THE AUDI COMPANY... WHEN YOU DON'T GIVE UP!

WHEN YOU DON'T GIVE UP! 

We are starting a new series that will take us on a historical journey to trace the beginnings of vehicle brands that are so well known to us that we don't even stop to think about what they had to go through to be an indispensable part of our market today. Let's start with one of the most common and well-known of them - Audi.1 

However, since he was not allowed to use his own name, he and his then business partner settled on ‘Audì’, translated from the Latin form of the word ‘to hear’ and the German ‘Horch’. It is believed that the idea came from his associate’s ten-year-old son, who was doing his homework during their meeting. 

The symbolism of the iconic four-ring logo actually represents the four founding companies - Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer Wenke - which merged on June 29, 1932 at the initiative of the State Bank of Saxony to overcome their financial difficulties. Each of them is associated with a different automotive component that supports its economic development. Auto Union was accompanied by numerous successes in motorsports. An example of this is the unforgettable record-breaking races of Bernd Rosenmeier. However, the events of World War II forced the company to hit the brakes and focus on creating weapons as a result of the Nazi terrorist regime that took over, which subjected 17,300 workers to forced labor. At the end of hostilities, it was expropriated by the Soviet occupation forces and completely erased from the commercial register of the city of Chemnitz in 1948. A few years before that, a large part of the workforce and managers fled to the city of Ingolstadt, where they created a spare parts warehouse, and after its deletion, Auto Union GmbH became an independent manufacturing company that started the production of vans and motorcycles under the DKW brand in the same city. 

1958 was the year in which industrialist and one of the main shareholders, Friedrich Flick, managed to have Daimler-Benz AG take over 88% of the company's shares and turn it into a subsidiary. Due to its failure and the rise in living standards (which in turn meant rising expectations), the company was taken over by Volkswagen AG (1965), which instantly led to its revival with the launch of its first car with a four-stroke engine, as well as the Audi 100 in 1968. A year later, Auto Union merged with the bicycle company NSU to form AUDÌ NSU AUTO UNION AG, which was incorporated into the Volkswagen Group.
In 1971, inspired by the innovative technology of the NSU Ro 80, a new advertising slogan was created that has since become synonymous with Audi: "Advantage through technology." In parallel, both the Audi 80 and the third generation Audi 100 were launched on the market.

The Audi quattro was a revolutionary model that was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1980. It impressed with its exceptional traction, thanks to its permanent all-wheel drive and two manually locking differentials, making it ideal for difficult terrain. And all this was demonstrated by its triumphant success in the World Rally Championship. The quattro system marked the beginning of the golden age of motorsport until the legendary endurance race Le Mans, where an unprecedented series of successes began in 1999.

Audi AG became the new name of the company in 1985, along with the transfer of responsibility for sales from Volkswagen to it. And with the launch of the Audi A8, the brand entered the luxury car segment and marked the dawn of a new era for the company.