Audi was found by August Horch in 1899 in Cologne, Germany. It was renamed as Audi in the year 1910. The company underwent serious crisis in the post World War period year of 1945. The invasion of Soviet Union into Germany forced the company to wind up the operations, but came back to the industry in one year by manufacturing bicycles. From the 1950’s the company recorded a big rise in the manufacturing and sales.

1950s highlighted by Daimler’s acquisition of the company in 1958 fuelled further expansion.

In 1964, Audi was purchased by Volkswagen group from Daimler and to this day Audi remains a significant part of the Volkswagen establishment. In the late 1960s, Audi began its historic run to the top of automotive excellence. New models were brought out marketed as Volkswagen models for that era. In 1980, Audi shook the automotive world by releasing its Quattro sports car, a vehicle with full time all wheel drive and a turbocharged engine. The Quattro propelled the Audi name to the top of the race car world when the vehicle began to win race upon race. The Quattro was a runaway hit that the model was banned from some races for having an “unfair” technological advantage.

In the 1980s and the 1990s, Audi started making additional models including the Audi V8 in 1988. It sports a 3.6L 32-valve V8 engine, full time all wheel drive and a four speed electronically controlled automatic transmission. Audi continued its expansion and competed against all of the top luxury brands in the world. New technology including its Audi Space Frame all-aluminium body - known for its rigidity and improved crashworthiness - are among the highlights of a brand that doesn’t settle for second best. Audi over the years crossed the boundaries conquering new markets and emerged as the largest car maker in the world.

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Audi is identified with the prestige of Germany for long years. The German sport luxury brand has played a big role in shaping the consumer tastes and influences the entire European touring market for past few decades. For nearly 100 years, the Audi brand has been synonymous of high quality production, reliability, and well engineered vehicles. From a humble beginning, the company has risen above adversity and is producing cars that are world renowned in quality and engineering.

The history of Audi goes back to 1899, when, August Horch founded Horch Automotive in Cologne, Germany and began manufacturing cars in 1901. The company brought out cars featuring horizontal engine producing upwards of 5 horsepower. Heavy demand for these models propelled Horch to expand production and to move to a larger manufacturing facility where a newer, more powerful model cranking out a then-amazing 10 horsepower was released. Horch himself was booted out of the company in 1910 that sported his name so he set up shop elsewhere and began to sell cars under the Audi moniker. The term Audi was used by Horch as German courts opposed his move to use family name. In German, Horch means “hark” and the word “audi” is the Latin translation of horch/hark. He thus succeeded in using his Latinized version of the name which became popular in later years.

The Horch Company that originally booted Mr. Horch was absorbed by Audi and makes up one of the four rings. The end of Second World War witnessed the dismantling of the company following occupation of Soviet Union, who was occupying the eastern portion of Germany.  It appropriated the company, took all of its assets, and by August 1948 the company no longer existed. One year later a resurrected Audi was back on the scene producing a delivery van and a motorcycle. From that day, the company grew beyond the boundaries and emerged as the biggest player in the automobile market.

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