By the way, why is Audi called Audi? – Tech

The German premium brand was not created by M./Mme. Audi, but you're almost there …

We no longer present Audi. Renowned for its licked cars, whose behavior and performance often refer, the German brand owned by the Volkswagen Group since 1964, has had a tumultuous history before meeting the success we know today.

It all started in 1899, the brand's website tells us, when August Horch, a German engineer who graduated from a certain Carl Benz, founded August Horch & Co. in Cologne. This workshop dedicated to the sale and repair of engines produces since 1901 its first automobile. Quickly, Horch and his associates make a name for themselves in motor racing thanks to repeated victories against the master Carl Benz.

But that exhilarating era of victory was abruptly halted in 1909, when Horch was expelled from his company because of a disagreement with his associates, Rewind & Captur tells us. A few weeks later, the engineer founded a new automotive company, the August Horch Automobile Works.

Why Audi is called Audi?

Of course, former Horch associates do not waste time attacking his new company, which can not take over the valuable name that has been in competition. August Horch is forced to abandon the idea of ​​an eponymous company.

During one evening, the son of his friend Franz Fikentscher, however, has an idea that will seal the fate of the brand. In German Horch means "to listen" and the child, who like any 10 year old recite his Latin lesson, notes that "listening" translates to "Audi". Both men are seduced and the first Audi, the Type A Sport Phaeton, will be released in 1910.

Why is the Audi logo symbolized by four rings?

The Audi brand is in turn quickly know through the motor racing. The Audi Type C wins the demanding Austrian Alps Cup (2,400 km course) for three consecutive years, from 1912 to 1914. A decade of prolific development ensues but the Great Depression following the stock market crash of 1929 once again stops the development of Audi.

The manufacturer is even on the brink of bankruptcy when in 1932, the bank of Saxony Land combines Audi with three other German manufacturers (DKW, Wanderer and … Horch) to protect its investments. Renamed Auto Union, the consortium takes as logo the famous intersecting rings that symbolize the strength of the four industrialists together.

The modern era of Audi and the takeover by Volkswagen

Thanks to its consolidation within Auto Union, Audi survives the Great Depression. But the Second World War weakened the whole German industry and in 1948, the ruins of Auto Union collapsed. At the initiative of the employees, a new company, "Auto Union GmbH" is formed in Ingolsdadt in the former DKW factory.

Nearly fifteen years later, in 1964, the German automobile industry took over and Volkswagen bought Auto Union from Daimler, which had been its largest shareholder since 1958. Ferdinand Piëch, grandson of Porsche's founder and CEO of Volkswagen, capitalized on the Audi name replacing Auto Union in 1969.

Thanks to the weight and power of the Volkswagen Group, Audi has moved out of the general automaker market to become a premium brand. Long remained in the shadow of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Audi will catch the two leaders in the premium market from the late 1990s and will be the spearhead of the Volkswagen Group in the 2000s …

To learn more about the history of major tech companies, do not hesitate to check out other tech names on Numerama.