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Audi facts you may not know

Audi is one of Germany's oldest car manufacturers with the Audi name originating in 1910 as Audiwerke GmbH.

Audi began in 1889 when August Horch established A Horch & Cie and launched the first Horch car in 1901. In 1904 the company issued shares in order to raise capital for expansion, but this ultimately led to August Horch leaving the company in 1909 following a dispute with the board.

Horch set up a new company in 1909 and created the Audi brand in 1910, under his new company Audiwerke GmbH. The Audi name is the Latin translation for Horch, that in English means hark.

The Audi brand was created, because Horch lost a legal dispute with his former company on the use of the Horch name.

In 1912 Audiwerke test drove their first car, the Wanderer, which had a four cylinder engine. After successful trials, the car went into production in 1913 and in 1914 Audi won the Alpine Challenge Trophy, one of the most famous races of the era.

In 1921, Audi launched the first German manufactured left hand drive car, the Audi Type K. The improved driver visibility meant that left hand drive cars became well established by the end of the decade.

In 1928, the Audi name was effectively bought by J S Rasmussen, who acquired a majority shareholding in Audiwerke AG. Four years later Audi merged with four other German car manufacturers from the Saxony area. Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer all became Auto Union AG in 1932. The larger company was able to supply passenger vehicles across the market, from motorcycles to luxury saloons.

The Audi logo, consisting of four rings, symbolised the joining of these four historic names in German motor manufacturing.

However, the Audi name was in danger of disappearing in post-war Germany. In the 1930's Auto Union AG developed and produced military vehicles and during the Second World War, civilian production was halted and the company exclusively manufactured military vehicles.

Post-war, the Soviet administration dismantled the production plants of Auto Union in 1945 as reparations and, in 1948 Auto Union AG was removed from the Commercial Register.

However, backing by the Bavarian government and Marshall Plan aid meant that the Audi name survived. In 1949, Auto Union GmbH Audi was formed in Ingolstadt and in 1950 the new company produced its first car, the DKW Meisterklasse.

In 1958, Daimler-Benz acquired Auto Union and in 1966 the company was bought by Volkswagenwek AG, and this saw production focused on the four-stroke engine, as developed previously under Daimler-Benz. In 1965, this engine was married with the DKW F 102 and launched under the Audi name.

In 1968, the Audi 100 was launched. This quickly became a top seller amongst upper mid-sized cars, and became the building block for a new Audi range. In 1972 the Audi 80 was launched.

The Audi 80 became a huge success and over one million were built within six years and its four cylinder engine was adopted by the Volkswagen Group.

In 1974, the Audi 50 was launched into the small car market. Six months later, production synergies were exploited with the Volkswagen brand and the VW Polo was launched, based on the Audi 50.

In 1980, the now famous Audi Quattro was launched, as the first performance car with four-wheel drive.

The company officially became known as Audi AG in 1985, which is testimony to the success of the Audi brand.