Blog Audi

Would you believe it if we told you that the name “Audi” was a suggestion from a child? It sure was. Back when August Horch owned the businesses, he was trying to come up with a name for the new car company because he was prohibited from using his own name as the car’s trade name. So he called up a meeting with some of his closest friends to discuss options and suggestions. These friends were Paul and Franz Fikentscher. It was rumored that the story goes as follows. While the men were talking, Franz’s son was playing outside close to where her father was having a meeting with Horch. The little boy kept trying to input his suggestion, but kept putting his head down in hesitation. When he finally mustered up the courage to talk to his father and his engineers, the son suggested that “audi” would be a better word to use than “horch,” which meant “hark” or “hear.” All of these ends up translating to the Latin “audi,” which means to hear.

The four rings

Audi’s four rings are representative of the merger of the four companies that made up Auto Union: Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer. Auto Union used the same branding that we see in Audi cars today before World War II. However, the badge was only used on Auto Union racing cars. While that was, each of the four companies that merged together were using their own emblems on the cars they manufactured. You can see how big of a confusion that must’ve been, but remember that there were a lot fewer manufactured cars during that time, so the confusion would’ve been mild.

Left-hand drive

In September 1921, Audi introduced the Type K at the Berlin Motor Show. Up until this point, Audi only used pre-war designs on all its cars. The Type K was the first post-war design. It’s considered to be one of the most technically advanced cars of its time. It had top speeds of up to 95 km/h or 59 m/h. But the most important feature of this car that would make history was the fact that it was the first German car that introduced the left-hand drive. Being the first of its kind, it was a revolutionary feat. Eventually, due to its function and popularity, this feature became the standard in all cars from the 20s.

World War II

Wars are harsh for everyone, no matter what or when, and most companies during World War II had been affected by the war. It didn’t matter how big or successful the company was; it could still be susceptible to damages from war. The very thing happened to Audi during World War II. All the auto manufacturing plants, including Audi, were used in war and turned into production facilities for military hardware. Audi’s facilities became obvious targets for many allied forces, especially the Russians. Plants were severely bombed and damaged during the war. However, when the war was over, Audi was able to recuperate from the destruction that happened. They built on out again to continue manufacturing cars the way they did before the war happened.

Volkswagen ties

Many people think that Audi is its own entity. In many ways it is, as the company surely started that way. However, it is not a well-known fact that Volkswagen actually owns the luxury giant. You can actually say that Audi is the luxury brand of Volkswagen. Before Volkswagen, Audi was actually owned by Daimler-Benz, the same group that brings Mercedes Benz to the market. You can probably surmise from this, if you don’t know already, that all these cars come from the same list of German-made automobiles. It’s an impressive feat for the nation to have such an amazing array of cars that feature some of the best in automobile engineering and design. Volkswagen acquired Audi back in 1996, but since then, Audi has targeted the higher-end market. It has since been targeting the same market, but it can’t stop from appealing to the general population as well.

Nothing says modern luxury like the four interwoven rings of one of Germany’s most popular car manufacturers: Audi. Audi is the luxury branch of the Volkswagen Group, and its also one of the most sought after cars among the younger demographic looking for a relevant luxury brand. Audi car designs are highly unique and competitive in the automobile industry. They’re considered a bestseller, having made over $58 billion in revenue in 2015 alone. Audi has been around for a long time now, but it hasn’t slowed down when it comes to manufacturing and keeping up with the latest and best in the automobile industry.

Having over 85,000 employees worldwide as of 2015, Audi is considerably a large company. They have two divisions: Audi e-tron and Audi India. Audi e-tron is the division that focuses on hybrid and electric concept cars. This division is Audi’s gateway to the future. The Audi India division, on the other hand, was established not only to represent the Indian market but also to be the leading luxury automobile brand in India altogether. It’s a tall order considering the demographic of the nation, yet it’s a work in progress. There’s already much progress since Audi started that program in India. In 2007, only 2% of the population’s new car buyers knew what the Audi brand was. By 2008, that number had dramatically increased to 13%, and it continues to grow to this day.

While the popularity of Audi continues to reach new markets and demographics, there is still a lot about the company that most of us didn’t know. Here are 20 cool facts about Audi that you probably didn’t know.

A hundred years old

To be exact, Audi is turning 108 years old today, but it can easily be said to be even older than that because of the history of its founding companies. That’s an impressive age for any business to cross. Audi as we know it was established on August 25, 1910 under the name Audi Automobilewerke GmbH Zwickau, but it had quite a history before that dating as far back as 1885. The roots of Audi stems from an automobile company known as Wanderer. This name will appear in Audi again later on when it becomes a branch of Audi AG. During the time of the Wanderer, another company, NSU, was also founded. NSU will eventually merge with Audi as well. Add August Horch and his automobile manufacturing company in 1899 to the mix, and the recipe for Audi is ready for a 1910 birthday.

The Audi name

Would you believe it if we told you that the name “Audi” was a suggestion from a child? It sure was. Back when August Horch owned the businesses, he was trying to come up with a name for the new car company because he was prohibited from using his own name as the car’s trade name. So he called up a meeting with some of his closest friends to discuss options and suggestions. These friends were Paul and Franz Fikentscher. It was rumored that the story goes as follows. While the men were talking, Franz’s son was playing outside close to where her father was having a meeting with Horch. The little boy kept trying to input his suggestion, but kept putting his head down in hesitation. When he finally mustered up the courage to talk to his father and his engineers, the son suggested that “audi” would be a better word to use than “horch,” which meant “hark” or “hear.” All of these ends up translating to the Latin “audi,” which means to hear.

Audi have a long history of excellence, and the name will bring different associations to everyone, so to celebrate the wonderful diversity of the company, here are a few little-known facts you may not have known:

1. ‘Audi’ is Latin for ‘hear’

Audi’s founder, German engineer August Horch, left his first car company after a falling out with his CFO, starting a rival company which he called August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH.

The Horch name however belonged to his former company, so he renamed the company with the Latin translation of Horch; Audi. It means ‘hear’, and is the same word we get ‘audio’ from.

2. Audi were the first to use a dual-clutch gearbox

Many modern high-performance cars, including most from Audi, offer quick-shifting dual-clutch automatic gearboxes, but it was actually Audi that were the first to include one in their cars.

The famous Quattro S1 E2 was given the prototype dual-clutch gearbox to make the most of its fierce 600bhp output long before it was a familiar sight in the cockpit.

3. Audi R8 is built for the elite, by the elite

Only the best of the best get the chance to build the famous Audi R8, which is assembled at the Neckarsulm facility; the headquarters of Audi Sport.

Similar to the team of master-builders who work on the GT-R for Nissan, Audi’s experts are the longest-serving and best-performing of the company’s employees, and are nicknamed ‘silver liners’ because most of them have been with Audi for decades and now have grey hair.

4. Audi was the first company to crash-test their cars
While you may think of Volvo when it comes to automotive safety, Audi were actually the first to use crash tests on their vehicles.

Very different from the sophisticated tests you’ll see today, Audi’s engineers simply rolled the cars down a hill in front of a group of spectators – we hope they stood back!

5. Audi were ahead of the climb for driverless cars

Before the race for autonomous cars truly got underway, Audi had already built one for the famous Pikes Peak hill climb, where they set consecutive speed records in the 1980s in one of their famous Quattros.

In 2010, a driverless Audi TTS developed by Stanford University completed the climb with no human assistance. It may not have been ahead of the likes of Michele Mouton, but it was certainly ahead of its time.

Now you know a little more about Audi, why not continue the learning experience by exploring the exciting Audi range here at Jardine Motors Audi?

4. Audi was the first company to crash-test their cars
While you may think of Volvo when it comes to automotive safety, Audi were actually the first to use crash tests on their vehicles.

Very different from the sophisticated tests you’ll see today, Audi’s engineers simply rolled the cars down a hill in front of a group of spectators – we hope they stood back!

5. Audi were ahead of the climb for driverless cars

Before the race for autonomous cars truly got underway, Audi had already built one for the famous Pikes Peak hill climb, where they set consecutive speed records in the 1980s in one of their famous Quattros.

In 2010, a driverless Audi TTS developed by Stanford University completed the climb with no human assistance. It may not have been ahead of the likes of Michele Mouton, but it was certainly ahead of its time.

Audi have a long history of excellence, and the name will bring different associations to everyone, so to celebrate the wonderful diversity of the company, here are a few little-known facts you may not have known:

1. ‘Audi’ is Latin for ‘hear’

Audi’s founder, German engineer August Horch, left his first car company after a falling out with his CFO, starting a rival company which he called August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH.

The Horch name however belonged to his former company, so he renamed the company with the Latin translation of Horch; Audi. It means ‘hear’, and is the same word we get ‘audio’ from.

2. Audi were the first to use a dual-clutch gearbox

Many modern high-performance cars, including most from Audi, offer quick-shifting dual-clutch automatic gearboxes, but it was actually Audi that were the first to include one in their cars.

The famous Quattro S1 E2 was given the prototype dual-clutch gearbox to make the most of its fierce 600bhp output long before it was a familiar sight in the cockpit.

3. Audi R8 is built for the elite, by the elite

Only the best of the best get the chance to build the famous Audi R8, which is assembled at the Neckarsulm facility; the headquarters of Audi Sport.

Similar to the team of master-builders who work on the GT-R for Nissan, Audi’s experts are the longest-serving and best-performing of the company’s employees, and are nicknamed ‘silver liners’ because most of them have been with Audi for decades and now have grey hair.