German sport luxury brand Audi has played a strong role in helping to shape shopper tastes and influence the complete ECU touring market. For virtually one hundred years, the Audi brand has been associated with manufacturing high quality, reliable, and well engineered cars. An wierd start almost scuttled the company's plans, yet today Audi has risen above difficulty and is manufacturing vehicles that are world renowned in quality and engineering.
August Horch founded Horch automobile in Cologne, Germany in 1899, and started producing vehicles in 1901 which featured a horizontal engine producing upwards of five h.p. Demand for these models propelled Horch to grow production and move to a bigger producing facility where a newer, stronger model cranking out a then-amazing 10 horsepower Was released.
By 1910, Horch himself was booted out of the company that sported his name so he set up shop elsewhere and started to sell cars under the Audi moniker. Originally, Horch attempted to use his folks name, but German courts ruled against him so the Audi name was selected instead. In German, Horch means "hark" and the word "audi" is the Latin interpretation of horch/hark. So, though he could legally no longer use his folks name, the Latinized version of the same won out. Guess which name is known today?
In between a couple devastating world wars, the modern Audi company started to take shape. Indeed, the "four rings" brand of the company represents the union of 4 distinct German automotive manufacturers under the auspices of Audi. Yes, you got it : the Horch company that originally booted Mr. Horch was soaked up by Audi and makes up one of the 4 rings. August Horch lived to see that big day, but he also witnessed the dismantling of the company following the end of the second world war.
Reparations was the rallying cry when World War II ended, thus the Soviet Union who was occupying the eastern portion of Germany during the postwar era, appropriated the company, took all of its assets, and by August 1948 the company no longer existed. One year later thanks to state loans and Marshall plan help, a resurrected Audi was back on the scene producing a delivery truck and a bike. Constant expansion across the 1950s highlighted by Daimler's purchase of the company in 1958 fueled further enlargement. In 1964, the Volkswagen group acquired Audi from Daimler and to this day Audi remains a significant part of the Volkswagen establishment.
By the late 1960s, Audi commenced what many consider its historical run its significant run to the top of car models were developed many of which were also sold as Volkswagen models for that era. In 1980, Audi shook the automobile world to its foundation when it released its Quattro sports auto, a vehicle with full time all wheel drive and a turbocharged engine. Straight away , the Quattro propelled the Audi name to the apex of the race auto world when the car world when the vehicle began to win race upon race. Definitely , the Quattro was such a runaway hit that the model was prohibited from some races for having an "unfair" technological advantage.
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Audi started to produce further models including its first premium model, the Audi V8 in 1988. Wearing a 3.6L 32-valve V8 engine, the Audi V8 featured full time all wheel drive and a 4 speed electronically controlled automatic transmission. This particular model was a huge departure from earlier Audis and set the brand on a collision course with Mercedes and BMW, Germany's 2 other luxury brands in an attempt for automotive supremacy.
Today, Audi continues to grow and compete against all of the top luxury brands in the world. New technology including its Audi Space Frame all-aluminum body - renowned for its rigidity and improved crashworthiness - are among the highlights of a brand that does not accept second choice. From sedans to sport coupes to an all new SUV, Audi has a model that competes against the likes of Lexus, Mercedes, Cadillac, Infiniti, and BMW its chief rivals.
That "hark" sound you hear is both the name of a company and the attention the brand deserves in an ocean of capable premium models produced by Germany's esteemed Volkswagen Group. Yes, Audi has weathered many tempests and the company appears balanced to continue its thrust forward thanks to its many inventions and continued top quality.
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