Regardless of Audi being synonymous with Quattro, the German automaker’s well-known four-ring brand is totally unrelated to its all-wheel-drive system and predates Quattro’s introduction by 48 years. The 4 interlocking rings are a direct reference to Auto Union, Audi’s predecessor, and its founding merger of 4 completely different automakers in 1932.
Audi’s company historical past begins with German engineer August Horch. He labored at Benz underneath founder Karl Benz and rose to change into the top of car manufacturing, a place he held till he left the corporate in 1899. Why did he go? Horch based his personal automaker, additionally named after himself, Horch. The brand new firm shortly discovered a everlasting residence in Zwickau, Saxony. Nonetheless, Horch would not lead the corporate ceaselessly. He resigned in 1909 after a dispute with the corporate’s board of administrators.
Horch would instantly discovered a brand new producer named Audi, additionally based mostly in Zwickau. The corporate’s title was a play on phrases. “Horch” can also be German for hear, with “Audi” being the Latin translation. The third producer entered the image when Audi struggled financially within the late Nineteen Twenties. The corporate was purchased in 1928 by Danish industrialist Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen. He additionally owned DKW, one other Saxon automaker.
Auto Union was shaped in 1932 on the stern suggestion of the State Financial institution of Saxony. The aim was to consolidate Saxony’s automotive business and create a extra worthwhile enterprise entity. The financial institution was a significant financier for Horch and Rasmussen, then shortly bought Wanderer, the merger’s fourth Saxon automaker. The State Financial institution of Saxony ended up with an 80% stake in Germany’s second-largest automaker.
Auto Union survived World Struggle II and the Iron Curtain
Auto Union and its four-ring brand would shortly achieve worldwide recognition by means of its Grand Prix racing crew. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche, the automaker’s supercharged V16-powered automotive featured an modern mid-engine format. Dr. Porsche personally lobbied Adolf Hitler in 1933 to separate a $119,000 racing subsidy meant solely for Mercedes-Benz with the upstart program. That is $2.96 million in at this time’s {dollars} for the Nazi regime to leech legitimacy from Germany’s motorsport successes. Mercedes would take the lion’s share of main victories through the Nineteen Thirties. Nonetheless, Auto Union received the German Grand Prix in its debut season in 1934. Then, the four-ring model dominated the 1936 season with Bernd Rosemeyer successful three of the European Championship’s 4 races.
World Struggle II marked the tip of this period for Auto Union. Based on Audi, the corporate produced navy autos for the Wehrmacht through the battle and utilized compelled labor by the battle’s later levels. Normal Patton and the Third United States Military captured Zwickau in April 1945. Nonetheless, the city and the remainder of Saxony fell east of the Iron Curtain. The Crimson Military dismantled lots of Auto Union’s factories, transport heavy equipment again to the Soviet Union. The Grand Prix automobiles have been taken to Moscow and finally have been on the middle of a reverse engineering mission to provide a Soviet racing automotive.
In West Germany, Auto Union re-established itself in 1945. With a necessity for capital funding to maintain up with international competitors, the automaker regularly offered fairness to Daimler-Benz over the Nineteen Fifties. Auto Union would change into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Stuttgart-based producer in 1959. Nonetheless, a dip in income for Auto Union led to Volkswagen shopping for a controlling 50% stake in 1964. VW would buy NSU and merge the newly acquired firm with Auto Union in 1969, inserting the Audi title on the forefront whereas retaining the four-ring brand to create the automaker we all know at this time.
