The history of the company

The brand was founded on 16 July 1909 by August Horch under the name "August Horch Automobilwerke", it was renamed "Audi Automobilwerke" on 25 April 1910 following a formal notice from the Leipzig court. It changed its name again in 1915 to Audiwerke AG.

August Horch

August Horch was born on October 12, 1868, after leaving school at the age of 13, he learned the blacksmith trade in the family business where he built his first means of transport, three-wheeled bicycles. From 1888 to 1891, August Horch studied at the University of Applied Sciences "Mittweida", then worked as a mechanical engineer from 1891 to 1899 in various factories including that of Carl Benz.

On November 14, 1899, August Horch founded the company "A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke." The company gained a certain reputation thanks to these victories in the 1906 motor races, but, outnumbered by its co-shareholders, August Horch was ousted from the management of the company, which he left on 16 June 1909. On July 16, 1909, he founded the company "August Horch Automobilwerke" which he managed until 1920.

The reason for the Audi name

A legal battle ensued between the company "A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke" and August Horch. After the departure of August Horch, his former associates were quick to file more than 26 brands composed from the Horch name.

Finally, on 25 April 1910, the Leipzig court ordered August Horch to change the name of his new company.

Legend has it that August Horch was sitting with his friends trying to find a new name and that a 10-year-old boy, the son of best friend Franz Fikentscher, translated Horch's name into Latin. Indeed, in German Horch is the imperative of the verb listen which in Latin is Audi.

Merger, redemption and rebirth

On June 29, 1932, Audi merged with Horch, DKW and Wanderer to form a unique Auto Union brand. The emblem of the brand is represented by 4 intertwined rings, symbol of the union of the founding brands.

After the Second World War, Auto Union, whose majority of factories are located in the Soviet zone, was taken over by the Daimler-Mercedes group. Sold in 1964 to Volkswagen which will produce until the middle of the sixties DKW and small sedans Auto Union. It was in 1969 that the Volkswagen Group decided to revive the Audi brand under this unique name Auto Union and the NSU brand also purchased by Volkswagen. The name Audi is then a word game meaning "Auto Union Deutsches Industrie". It is under the impetus of Ferdinand Piëch, that Audi meets the growth that we know today.