Audi AG () is a German
automotive manufacturer of
luxury vehicles headquartered in
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The origins of the company are complex, going back to the early 20th century and the initial enterprises (
Horch
Horch () was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is one of the predecessors of the present day Audi company, which itself resulted from the merger of Auto Union Aktienges ...
and the ''Audiwerke'') founded by engineer
August Horch
August Horch (12 October 1868 – 3 February 1951) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.
Beginnings
Horch was born in Winningen, Rhenish Prussia. His init ...
(1868–1951); and two other manufacturers (
DKW
DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...
and
Wanderer
Wanderer, Wanderers, or The Wanderer may refer to:
* Nomadism, Nomadic and/or itinerant people, working short-term before moving to other locations, who wander from place to place with no permanent home, or are vagrancy (people), vagrant
* The Wan ...
), leading to the foundation of
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
in 1932. The modern Audi era began in the 1960s, when Auto Union was acquired by
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
from
Daimler-Benz
The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...
.
After relaunching the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the
Audi F103
F103 is the internal designation for a series of car models produced by Auto Union GmbH (after merger with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969: Audi NSU Auto Union) in West Germany from 1965 to 1972, derived from the earlier DKW F102. To signify the change ...
series, Volkswagen merged Auto Union with
NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, thus creating the present-day form of the company.
The company name is based on the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
translation of the surname of the founder,
August Horch
August Horch (12 October 1868 – 3 February 1951) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.
Beginnings
Horch was born in Winningen, Rhenish Prussia. His init ...
. , meaning "listen", becomes in Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audi's predecessor company, Auto Union. Audi's slogan is , meaning "Being Ahead through Technology". Audi, along with German brands
BMW and
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
, is among the best-selling luxury automobile brands in the world.
History
Birth of the company and its name
Automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
company Wanderer was originally established in 1885, later becoming a branch of Audi AG. Another company, NSU, which also later merged into Audi, was founded during this time, and later supplied the chassis for
Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He was a ...
's four-wheeler.
On 14 November 1899,
August Horch
August Horch (12 October 1868 – 3 February 1951) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.
Beginnings
Horch was born in Winningen, Rhenish Prussia. His init ...
(1868–1951) established the company A. Horch & Cie. in the
Ehrenfeld district of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. In 1902, he moved with his company to
Reichenbach im Vogtland
Reichenbach im Vogtland is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district of Saxony in eastern Germany. With a population of 20,108, it is the second-largest town in the Vogtlandkreis after Plauen. It is located close to the A72 between Plauen (at c. 18&n ...
. On 10 May 1904, he founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, a joint-stock company in
Zwickau
Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
(State of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
).
After troubles with Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement. The German
Reichsgericht
The Reichsgericht (, ''Reich Court'') was the supreme criminal and civil court in the German Reich from 1879 to 1945. It was based in Leipzig, Germany. The Supreme Court was established when the Reichsjustizgesetze (Imperial Justice Laws) came in ...
(Supreme Court) in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, eventually determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company.
[Audi History](_blank)
audiusa.com
![Audi Typ E (1923)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Audi_Typ_E_%281923%29.jpg)
Since August Horch was prohibited from using "Horch" as a trade name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting, Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, "Father – ''
audiatur et altera pars
(or ) is a Latin phrase meaning "listen to the other side", or "let the other side be heard as well". It is the principle that no person should be judged without a fair hearing in which each party is given the opportunity to respond to the evide ...
''... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it ''audi'' instead of ''horch''?" "Horch!" in German means "Hark!" or "hear", which is "Audi" in the singular imperative form of "audire" – "to listen" – in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau (from 1915 on Audiwerke AG Zwickau) was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court.
The first Audi automobile, the
Audi Type A
The Audi Type A is an automobile which was introduced in 1910. It is considered to be the oldest vehicle under the Audi name. A total of 140 vehicles were produced. In 1911 the type A was succeeded by the Audi Type B
The Audi Type B was introduc ...
10/ Sport-Phaeton, was produced in the same year,
followed by the successor
Type B 10/28PS in the same year.
Audi started with a 2,612 cc
inline-four engine
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
model Type A, followed by a 3,564 cc model, as well as 4,680 cc and 5,720 cc models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. The first
six-cylinder model Type M, 4,655 cc appeared in 1924.
August Horch left the ''Audiwerke'' in 1920 for a high position at the ministry of transport, but he was still involved with Audi as a member of the board of trustees. In September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car, the Audi Type K, with left-handed drive.
[Audi chronicle 1915–1929](_blank)
audi.com Left-hand drive spread and established dominance during the 1920s because it provided a better view of oncoming traffic, making overtaking safer
when driving on the right.
The merger of the four companies under the logo of four rings
In August 1928,
Jørgen Rasmussen, the owner of
Dampf-Kraft-Wagen
DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...
(DKW), acquired the majority of shares in Audiwerke AG.
[Audi chronicle 1930–1944](_blank)
Audi.com In the same year, Rasmussen bought the remains of the U.S.
automobile manufacturer
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. The company is credited as the first known maker of electric guitars – a steel guitar in 1932 – and today produces a range ...
, including the manufacturing equipment for 8-cylinder engines. These engines were used in ''Audi Zwickau'' and ''Audi Dresden'' models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, 6-cylinder and 4-cylinder (
the "four" with a
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
engine) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork.
In 1932, Audi merged with
Horch
Horch () was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is one of the predecessors of the present day Audi company, which itself resulted from the merger of Auto Union Aktienges ...
, DKW, and
Wanderer
Wanderer, Wanderers, or The Wanderer may refer to:
* Nomadism, Nomadic and/or itinerant people, working short-term before moving to other locations, who wander from place to place with no permanent home, or are vagrancy (people), vagrant
* The Wan ...
, to form
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
AG,
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
. It was during this period that the company offered the
Audi Front
Initially presented early in 1933, the Audi Front UW 220 was Europe’s first car to combine front-wheel drive with a six-cylinder engine. It remained in production for slightly under two years before being replaced by the Audi Front UW 225 featuri ...
that became the first European car to combine a six-cylinder engine with front-wheel drive. It used a power train shared with the Wanderer, but turned 180 degrees, so that the drive shaft faced the front.
Before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, representing these four brands. However, this badge was used only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch- or Wanderer-built engines.
Reflecting the economic pressures of the time, Auto Union concentrated increasingly on smaller cars through the 1930s, so that by 1938 the company's DKW brand accounted for 17.9% of the German car market, while Audi held only 0.1%. After the final few Audis were delivered in 1939 the "Audi" name disappeared completely from the new car market for more than two decades.
Post-World War II
![1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/1._Magdeburger_Oldtimertag_%285743586787%29.jpg)
Like most German manufacturing, at the onset of World War II the Auto Union plants were retooled for military production, and were a target for allied bombing during the war which left them damaged.
Overrun by the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
in 1945, on the orders of the Soviet Union military administration the factories were dismantled as part of
war reparations.
Following this, the company's entire assets were expropriated without compensation.
On 17 August 1948, Auto Union AG of Chemnitz was deleted from the commercial register.
These actions had the effect of liquidating Germany's Auto Union AG. The remains of the Audi plant of Zwickau became the
VEB VEB may stand for:
* Venturing and Emerging Brands, a division of Coca-Cola
* Virtual business
* Venezuelan , currency of Venezuela between 1879 and 2007, ISO 4217 code VEB
* ' (German for "People-owned enterprise"), a state-owned workplace or est ...
(for "People Owned Enterprise") or AWZ (in English: Automobile Works Zwickau).
With no prospect of continuing production in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Auto Union executives began the process of relocating what was left of the company to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. A site was chosen in
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, to start a spare parts operation in late 1945, which would eventually serve as the headquarters of the reformed Auto Union in 1949.
The former Audi factory in Zwickau restarted assembly of the pre-war models in 1949. These DKW models were renamed to
IFA F8
The DKW F8 is a compact car, compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined sedan (automobile), saloon, introduced in 1939.Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN9 ...
and
IFA F9
The IFA F9, subsequently rebadged as the EMW 309, is a compact saloon manufactured under the auspices of the Russian and East German states between 1949 or 1950 and 1956. It was initially built at Zwickau at the plant previously owned by Auto U ...
and were similar to the West German versions. West and East German models were equipped with the traditional and renowned DKW two-stroke engines. The Zwickau plant manufactured the infamous
Trabant until 1991, when it came under Volkswagen control—effectively bringing it under the same umbrella as Audi since 1945.
New Auto Union unit
A new West German headquartered Auto Union was launched in Ingolstadt with loans from the Bavarian state government and
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
aid.
The reformed company was launched 3 September 1949 and continued DKW's tradition of producing front-wheel drive vehicles with two-stroke engines.
This included production of a small but sturdy 125 cc motorcycle and a DKW delivery van, the
DKW F89 L at Ingolstadt. The Ingolstadt site was large, consisting of an extensive complex of formerly military buildings which was suitable for administration as well as vehicle warehousing and distribution, but at this stage there was at Ingolstadt no dedicated plant suitable for mass production of automobiles: for manufacturing the company's
first post-war mass-market passenger car plant capacity in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
was rented from
Rheinmetall-Borsig
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
History
Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel
L ...
. It was only ten years later, after the company had attracted an investor, when funds became available for construction of major car plant at the Ingolstadt head office site.
In 1958, in response to pressure from
Friedrich Flick
Friedrich Flick (10 July 1883 – 20 July 1972) was a German industrialist and convicted Nazi war criminal. After the Second World War, he reconstituted his businesses, becoming the richest person in West Germany, and one of the richest people i ...
, then the company's largest single shareholder,
Daimler-Benz
The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...
took an 87% holding in the Auto Union company, and this was increased to a 100% holding in 1959. However, small two-stroke cars were not the focus of Daimler-Benz's interests, and while the early 1960s saw major investment in new Mercedes models and in a state of the art factory for Auto Union's, the company's aging model range at this time did not benefit from the economic boom of the early 1960s to the same extent as competitor manufacturers such as
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
and
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
. The decision to dispose of the Auto Union business was based on its lack of profitability.
Ironically, by the time they sold the business, it also included a large new factory and near production-ready modern four-stroke engine, which would enable the Auto Union business, under a new owner, to embark on a period of profitable growth, now producing not Auto Unions or DKWs, but using the "Audi" name, resurrected in 1965 after a 25-year gap.
In 1964, Volkswagen acquired a 50% holding in the business, which included the new factory in Ingolstadt, the DKW and Audi brands along with the rights to the new engine design which had been funded by Daimler-Benz, who in return retained the dormant Horch trademark and the Düsseldorf factory which became a Mercedes-Benz van assembly plant. Eighteen months later, Volkswagen bought complete control of Ingolstadt, and by 1966 were using the spare capacity of the Ingolstadt plant to assemble an additional 60,000
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
s per year.
Two-stroke engines became less popular during the 1960s as customers were more attracted to the smoother four-stroke engines. In September 1965, the
DKW F102
The DKW F102 is a passenger car that was produced from August 1963 by the German manufacturer Auto Union. Superseding the Auto Union 1000, it was the last model branded as a DKW by the manufacturer and also the last West German production car equ ...
was fitted with a four-stroke engine and a
facelift
A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy (from the Ancient Greek () "wrinkle", and () "excision", the surgical removal of wrinkles), is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are mult ...
for the car's front and rear. Volkswagen dumped the DKW brand because of its associations with two-stroke technology, and having classified the model internally as the
F103, sold it simply as the "Audi". Later developments of the model were named after their horsepower ratings and sold as the Audi 60, 75, 80, and Super 90, selling until 1972. Initially, Volkswagen was hostile to the idea of Auto Union as a standalone entity producing its own models having acquired the company merely to boost its own production capacity through the Ingolstadt assembly plant – to the point where Volkswagen executives ordered that the Auto Union name and flags bearing the four rings were removed from the factory buildings. Then VW chief
Heinz Nordhoff explicitly forbade Auto Union from any further product development. Fearing that Volkswagen had no long-term ambition for the Audi brand, Auto Union engineers under the leadership of
Ludwig Kraus
Ludwig may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Ludwig (surname), including a list of people
* Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...
developed the first
Audi 100 in secret, without Nordhoff's knowledge. When presented with a finished prototype, Nordhoff was so impressed he authorised the car for production, which when launched in 1968, went on to be a huge success. With this, the resurrection of the Audi brand was now complete, this being followed by the first generation
Audi 80 in 1972, which would in turn provide a template for VW's new front-wheel-drive water-cooled range which debuted from the mid-1970s onward.
![Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F038791-0035, Wolfsburg, VW Autowerk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F038791-0035%2C_Wolfsburg%2C_VW_Autowerk.jpg)
In 1969, Auto Union merged with
NSU, based in
Neckarsulm, near
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. In the 1950s, NSU had been the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles, but had moved on to produce small cars like the
NSU Prinz, the TT and TTS versions of which are still popular as vintage race cars. NSU then focused on new rotary engines based on the ideas of
Felix Wankel. In 1967, the new
NSU Ro 80
The NSU Ro 80 is a four-door, front-engine executive sedan manufactured and marketed by the West German firm NSU from 1967 until 1977.
Noted for innovative, aerodynamic styling by Claus Luthe and a technologically advanced powertrain, the Ro 8 ...
was a car well ahead of its time in technical details such as aerodynamics, light weight, and safety. However, teething problems with the rotary engines put an end to the independence of NSU. The Neckarsulm plant is now used to produce the larger Audi models
A6 and
A8. The Neckarsulm factory is also home of the "
quattro GmbH
Audi Sport GmbH, formerly known as quattro GmbH,[Audi-Mediacente ...](_blank)
" (from November 2016 "
Audi Sport GmbH"), a subsidiary responsible for development and production of Audi high-performance models: the
R8 and the RS model range.
Modern era
![Audi NSU Auto Union AG 1969](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Audi_NSU_Auto_Union_AG_1969.jpg)
The new merged company was incorporated on 1 January 1969 and was known as Audi NSU Auto Union AG, with its headquarters at NSU's Neckarsulm plant, and saw the emergence of Audi as a separate brand for the first time since the pre-war era. Volkswagen introduced the Audi brand to the United States for the 1970 model year. That same year, the mid-sized car that NSU had been working on, the
K70, originally intended to slot between the rear-engined Prinz models and the futuristic
NSU Ro 80
The NSU Ro 80 is a four-door, front-engine executive sedan manufactured and marketed by the West German firm NSU from 1967 until 1977.
Noted for innovative, aerodynamic styling by Claus Luthe and a technologically advanced powertrain, the Ro 8 ...
, was instead launched as a Volkswagen.
After the launch of the
Audi 100 of 1968, the
Audi 80/Fox (which formed the basis for the 1973
Volkswagen Passat) followed in 1972 and the
Audi 50 (later rebadged as the
Volkswagen Polo
The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run.
History
...
) in 1974. The Audi 50 was a seminal design because it was the first incarnation of the
Golf/Polo concept, one that led to a hugely successful world car. Ultimately, the Audi 80 and 100 (progenitors of the
A4 and
A6, respectively) became the company's biggest sellers, whilst little investment was made in the fading NSU range; the
Prinz models were dropped in 1973 whilst the fatally flawed
NSU Ro80
The NSU Ro 80 is a four-door, front-engine executive sedan manufactured and marketed by the West German firm NSU from 1967 until 1977.
Noted for innovative, aerodynamic styling by Claus Luthe and a technologically advanced powertrain, the Ro 8 ...
went out of production in 1977, spelling the effective end of the NSU brand. Production of the Audi 100 had been steadily moved from Ingolstadt to Neckarsulm as the 1970s had progressed, and by the appearance of the second generation C2 version in 1976, all production was now at the former NSU plant. Neckarsulm from that point onward would produce Audi's higher-end models.
The Audi image at this time was a conservative one, and so, a proposal from chassis engineer
Jörg Bensinger
Jörg Bensinger is a German automotive chassis engineer, who pioneered four-wheel drive (all-wheel) transmission for conventional (on-road) automobiles in the 1980s, first developing the idea in 1977.
Career Audi
He joined the R&D department o ...
was accepted to develop the
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
technology in
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
's
Iltis military vehicle for an Audi performance car and
rally
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event
Sports ...
racing car. The performance car, introduced in 1980, was named the "
Audi Quattro
The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991.
Background
The word ...
", a
turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
charged coupé which was also the first German large-scale production vehicle to feature permanent
all-wheel drive
An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand.
The most common forms of all-wheel drive are:
;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
through a centre
differential. Commonly referred to as the "Ur-Quattro" (the "
Ur-
Ur (; Sumerian language, Sumerian: , , or ''Urim''; akk, 𒋀𒀕𒆠 ''Uru''; ar, أُوْر, ʾūr; he, אוּר, ʾūr) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar ( ar, ت ...
" prefix is a German
augmentative
An augmentative (abbreviated ) is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size but also in other attributes. It is the opposite of a diminutive.
Overaugmenting something often makes it grotesque and so in so ...
used, in this case, to mean "original" and is also applied to the first generation of Audi's
S4 and
S6 Sport Saloons, as in "UrS4" and "UrS6"), few of these vehicles were produced (all hand-built by a single team), but the model was a great success in rallying. Prominent wins proved the viability of all-wheel-drive racecars, and the Audi name became associated with advances in automotive technology.
In 1985, with the Auto Union and NSU brands effectively dead, the company's official name was now shortened to simply Audi AG. At the same time the company's headquarters moved back to Ingolstadt and two new wholly owned subsidiaries; ''Auto Union GmbH'' and ''NSU GmbH'', were formed to own and manage the historical trademarks and intellectual property of the original constituent companies (the exception being Horch, which had been retained by Daimler-Benz after the VW takeover), and to operate Audi's heritage operations.
![Audi Quattro 20V - 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Audi_Quattro_20V_-_001.jpg)
In 1986, as the Passat-based
Audi 80 was beginning to develop a kind of "grandfather's car" image, the ''type 89'' was introduced. This completely new development sold extremely well. However, its modern and dynamic exterior belied the low performance of its base engine, and its base package was quite spartan (even the passenger-side mirror was an option.) In 1987, Audi put forward a new and very elegant
Audi 90, which had a much superior set of standard features. In the early 1990s, sales began to slump for the Audi 80 series, and some basic construction problems started to surface.
In the early part of the 21st century, Audi set forth on a German racetrack to claim and maintain several world records, such as top speed endurance. This effort was in-line with the company's heritage from the 1930s racing era
Silver Arrows
Silver Arrows (german: link=no, Silberpfeil) was the nickname given by the press to Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix motor racing cars between 1934 and 1939. The name was later applied to the Mercedes-Benz Formula ...
.
Through the early 1990s, Audi began to shift its target market upscale to compete against German automakers
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
and
BMW. This began with the release of the
Audi V8 in 1990. It was essentially a new engine fitted to the Audi 100/200, but with noticeable bodywork differences. Most obvious was the new grille that was now incorporated in the bonnet.
By 1991, Audi had the four-cylinder Audi 80, the 5-cylinder
Audi 90 and
Audi 100, the turbocharged
Audi 200 and the Audi V8. There was also a
coupé version of the 80/90 with both four- and five-cylinder engines.
Although the five-cylinder engine was a successful and robust powerplant, it was still a little too different for the target market. With the introduction of an all-new Audi 100 in 1992, Audi introduced a 2.8L
V6 engine. This engine was also fitted to a face-lifted Audi 80 (all 80 and 90 models were now badged 80 except for the USA), giving this model a choice of four-, five-, and six-cylinder engines, in
saloon,
coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
and
convertible body styles.
The five-cylinder was soon dropped as a major engine choice; however, a
turbocharged
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
version remained. The engine, initially fitted to the 200 quattro 20V of 1991, was a derivative of the engine fitted to the
Sport Quattro. It was fitted to the
Audi Coupé
The Audi Coupé was a liftback coupé version of the Audi 80, first shown in 1980. The bodywork was shared with the Audi Quattro. The second generation Coupé arrived in late 1988 and was based on the B3 Audi 80, albeit with a different suspensio ...
, named the
S2, and also to the Audi 100 body, and named the
S4. These two models were the beginning of the mass-produced
S series S series or Series-S or ''variation'', may refer to:
Transportation
* Bedford S series, trucks
* Chevrolet S-series, pickup trucks
* GMC S-Series, school bus
* International S series, trucks
* International S series (bus chassis)
* S series (T ...
of performance cars.
Audi 5000 unintended acceleration allegations
Sales in the United States fell after a series of recalls from 1982 to 1987 of
Audi 5000 5000 or ''variation'', may refer to:
In general
* A.D. 5000, the last year of the 5th millennium CE, an exceptional common year starting on Wednesday
* 5000 BCE, a year in the 5th millennium BC
* 5000s AD, a decade, century, millennium in the 6th m ...
models
associated with reported incidents of
sudden unintended acceleration
Sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) is the unintended, unexpected, uncontrolled acceleration of a vehicle, often accompanied by an apparent loss of braking effectiveness. Such problems may be caused by driver error (e.g., pedal misapplication), ...
linked to six deaths and 700 accidents.
At the time, NHTSA was investigating 50 car models from 20 manufacturers for sudden surges of power.
A ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' report aired 23 November 1986,
featuring interviews with six people who had sued Audi after reporting unintended acceleration, showing an Audi 5000 ostensibly suffering a problem when the brake pedal was pushed.
Subsequent investigation revealed that ''60 Minutes'' had engineered the failure – fitting a canister of compressed air on the passenger-side floor, linked via a hose to a hole drilled into the transmission.
![Audi 100 C3 (1988–1991) (10629216834)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Audi_100_C3_%281988%E2%80%931991%29_%2810629216834%29.jpg)
Audi contended, prior to findings by outside investigators,
that the problems were caused by driver error, specifically pedal misapplication.
Subsequently, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rela ...
(NHTSA) concluded that the majority of unintended acceleration cases, including all the ones that prompted the ''60 Minutes'' report, were caused by driver error such as confusion of pedals. CBS did not acknowledge the test results of involved government agencies, but did acknowledge the similar results of another study.
In a review study published in 2012, NHTSA summarized its past findings about the Audi unintended acceleration problems: "Once an unintended acceleration had begun, in the Audi 5000, due to a failure in the idle-stabilizer system (producing an initial acceleration of 0.3g), pedal misapplication resulting from panic, confusion, or unfamiliarity with the Audi 5000 contributed to the severity of the incident."
This summary is consistent with the conclusions of NHTSA's most technical analysis at the time: "Audi idle-stabilization systems were prone to defects which resulted in excessive idle speeds and brief unanticipated accelerations of up to 0.3g
These accelerations could not be the sole cause of
long-duration) sudden acceleration incidents (SAI) but might have triggered some SAIs by startling the driver.
The defective idle-stabilization system performed a type of
electronic throttle control. Significantly: multiple "intermittent malfunctions of the electronic control unit were observed and recorded ... and
ere also observed andreported by Transport Canada."
With a series of recall campaigns, Audi made several modifications; the first adjusted the distance between the brake and accelerator pedal on automatic-transmission models.
Later repairs, of 250,000 cars dating back to 1978, added a device requiring the driver to press the brake pedal before shifting out of park.
A legacy of the Audi 5000 and other reported cases of sudden unintended acceleration are intricate
gear stick patterns and brake
interlock mechanisms to prevent inadvertent shifting into forward or reverse. It is unclear how the defects in the idle-stabilization system were addressed.
Audi's U.S. sales, which had reached 74,061 in 1985, dropped to 12,283 in 1991 and remained level for three years,
– with resale values falling dramatically.
Audi subsequently offered increased warranty protection
and renamed the affected models – with the ''5000'' becoming the ''100'' and ''200'' in 1989
– and reached the same sales levels again only by model year 2000.
A 2010 ''BusinessWeek'' article – outlining possible parallels between Audi's experience and
2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls – noted a class-action lawsuit filed in 1987 by about 7,500 Audi 5000-model owners remains unsettled and remains contested in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
's
Cook County after appeals at the Illinois state and U.S. federal levels.
Model introductions
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Audi introduced new technologies including the use of aluminium construction. Produced from 1999 to 2005, the
Audi A2
The Audi A2 (internally designated ''Typ'' 8Z) is a compact MPV-styled supermini car, with a five-door hatchback body style and four or five seats,ETKA official factory data produced by the German manufacturer Audi from November 1999 (for the 200 ...
was a futuristic super mini, born from the Al2 concept, with many features that helped regain consumer confidence, like the aluminium
space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
, which was a first in production car design. In the A2 Audi further expanded their TDI technology through the use of frugal three-cylinder engines. The A2 was extremely aerodynamic and was designed around a
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
. The Audi A2 was criticised for its high price and was never really a sales success but it planted Audi as a cutting-edge manufacturer. The model, a
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a subcompact car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz as the brand's entry-level vehicle. The first generation (internally coded W168) was introduced in 1997, the second generation (W169) in ...
competitor, sold relatively well in Europe. However, the A2 was discontinued in 2005 and Audi decided not to develop an immediate replacement.
The next major model change came in 1995 when the
Audi A4 replaced the
Audi 80. The new nomenclature scheme was applied to the Audi 100 to become the
Audi A6 (with a minor facelift). This also meant the S4 became the
S6 and a new S4 was introduced in the A4 body. The S2 was discontinued. The
Audi Cabriolet
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The o ...
continued on (based on the Audi 80 platform) until 1999, gaining the engine upgrades along the way. A new
A3 hatchback
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...
model (sharing the
Volkswagen Golf Mk4's platform) was introduced to the range in 1996, and the radical
Audi TT coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
and
roadster were debuted in 1998 based on the same underpinnings.
The engines available throughout the range were now a 1.4 L, 1.6 L and 1.8 L four-cylinder, 1.8 L four-cylinder turbo, 2.6 L and 2.8 L
V6, 2.2 L turbo-charged five-cylinder and the 4.2 L
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
. The V6s were replaced by new 2.4 L and 2.8 L 30V V6s in 1998, with marked improvement in power, torque and smoothness. Further engines were added along the way, including a 3.7 L V8 and 6.0 L
W12 engine
A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where three banks of four cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft.
W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used by several aircraft engines from 1917 unti ...
for the A8.
Audi AG today
Audi's sales grew strongly in the 2000s, with deliveries to customers increasing from 653,000 in 2000 to 1,003,000 in 2008. The largest sales increases came from Eastern Europe (+19.3%), Africa (+17.2%) and the Middle East (+58.5%). China in particular has become a key market, representing 108,000 out of 705,000 cars delivered in the first three quarters of 2009. One factor for its popularity in China is that Audis have become the car of choice for purchase by the Chinese government for officials, and purchases by the government are responsible for 20% of its sales in China. As of late 2009, Audi's operating profit of €1.17 billion ($1.85 billion) made it the biggest contributor to parent Volkswagen Group's nine-month operating profit of €1.5 billion, while the other marques in Group such as Bentley and SEAT had suffered considerable losses. May 2011 saw record sales for Audi of America with the new
Audi A7
The Audi A7 is an executive luxury four-door coupé produced by Audi since 2010. A five-door liftback (also available as a three-box, four-door saloon in China since 2021), it features a sloping roofline with a steeply raked rear window and inte ...
and
Audi A3 TDI Clean Diesel. In May 2012, Audi reported a 10% increase in its sales—from 408 units to 480 in the last year alone.
Audi manufactures vehicles in seven plants around the world, some of which are shared with other VW Group marques although many sub-assemblies such as engines and transmissions are manufactured within other Volkswagen Group plants.
Audi's two principal assembly plants in Germany are:
*
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
, the former Auto Union site originally opened in 1945 and substantially rebuilt by Daimler-Benz in 1962, and acquired by Volkswagen in 1964 (Q2, A3, A4, A5)
*
Neckarsulm, the former NSU plant, acquired by Volkswagen in 1969: (A4, A5 (cabrio), A6, A7, A8, R8, and all RS variants) - a satellite plant at nearby Böllinger Höfe produces the e-tron GT
Outside of Germany, Audi produces vehicles at:
*
Aurangabad, India, since 2006
*
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
, Slovakia, shared with Volkswagen, SEAT, Škoda and Porsche (Q7 and Q8)
*
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium, acquired from Volkswagen in 2007 (e-tron)
*
Changchun
Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...
, China, since 1995
*
Győr, Hungary (TT, A3, Q3)
*
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
, Indonesia, since 2011
*
Martorell
Martorell () is a municipality that forms part of the Baix Llobregat Comarques of Catalonia, comarca, in Catalonia, Spain, primarily known for its medieval Pont del Diable, Devil's bridge. It lies at the confluence of the Llobregat and Anoia Rive ...
, Spain, shared with SEAT and Volkswagen (A1, Q3)
*
San José Chiapa
San José Chiapa is a town and municipality in Puebla in south-eastern Mexico.
Audi has a car factory near the town, with a capacity of 150,000 units per year, including the Q5. Engines are imported from Germany. Most of the finished cars are tr ...
, Mexico (2nd gen Q5)
In September 2012, Audi announced the construction of its first North American manufacturing plant in
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
, Mexico. This plant became operative in 2016 and produces the second generation Q5.
From 2002 up to 2003, Audi headed the Audi Brand Group, a subdivision of the Volkswagen Group's Automotive Division consisting of Audi, Lamborghini and SEAT, which was focused on sporty values, with the marques' product vehicles and performance being under the higher responsibility of the Audi brand.
In January 2014, Audi, along with the
Wireless Power Consortium
The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) is a multinational technology consortium formed on December 17, 2008, and based in Piscataway, New Jersey. Its mission is to create and promote wide market adoption of its interface standards Qi, Ki Cordless ...
, operated a booth which demonstrated a phone compartment using the
Qi open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
interface standard
In telecommunications, an interface standard is a standard that describes one or more functional characteristics (such as code conversion, line assignments, or protocol compliance) or physical characteristics (such as electrical, mechanical, or op ...
at the
Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
(CES). In May, most of the Audi dealers in the UK falsely claimed that the Audi A7, A8, and R8 were Euro NCAP safety tested, all achieving five out of five stars. In fact none were tested.
In 2015, Audi admitted that at least 2.1 million Audi cars had been involved in the
Volkswagen emissions testing scandal
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...
in which software installed in the cars manipulated emissions data to fool regulators and allow the cars to pollute at higher than government-mandated levels. The A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, TT, Q3 and Q5 models were implicated in the scandal. Audi promised to quickly find a technical solution and upgrade the cars so they can function within emissions regulations. Ulrich Hackenberg, the head of research and development at Audi, was suspended in relation to the scandal. Despite widespread media coverage about the scandal through the month of September, Audi reported that U.S. sales for the month had increased by 16.2%. Audi's parent company Volkswagen announced on 18 June 2018 that Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler had been arrested.
In November 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implicated the 3-liter diesel engine versions of the 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L and the Q5 as further models that had emissions regulation defeat-device software installed. Thus, these models emitted nitrogen oxide at up to nine times the legal limit when the car detected that it was not hooked up to emissions testing equipment.
In November 2016, Audi expressed an intention to establish an assembly factory in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, with the company's local partner acquiring land for a plant in
Korangi Creek Industrial Park
The industrial parks in Karachi have been built in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. The industrial parks manufacture consumer and industrial goods, creating jobs for the local population.
An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading est ...
in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
. Approval of the plan would lead to an investment of $30 million in the new plant. Audi planned to cut 9,500 jobs in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
starting from 2020 till 2025 to fund electric vehicles and digital working.
In February 2020, Volkswagen AG announced that it plans to take over all Audi shares it does not own (totalling 0.36%) via a squeeze-out according to German stock corporation law, thus making Audi a fully owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. This change took effect from 16 November 2020, when Audi became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.
In January 2021, Audi announced that it is planning to sell 1 million vehicles in China in 2023, comparing to 726,000 vehicles in 2020.
Technology
Audi AI
Audi AI is a
driver assist
Driver may refer to:
Transportion
* A person whose occupation is driving
** Chauffeur, a person who drives an automobile as a job
** Motorman (locomotive), an electric vehicle driver
** Bus driver
** Truck driver
* SS ''Empire Driver'' or SS ' ...
feature offered by Audi. The company's stated intent is to offer fully autonomous driving at a future time, acknowledging that legal, regulatory and technical hurdles must be overcome to achieve this goal. On 4 June 2017, Audi stated that its new
A8 will be fully self-driving for speeds up to 60 km/h using its Audi AI. Contrary to other cars, the driver will not have to do safety checks such as touching the steering wheel every 15 seconds to use this feature. The Audi A8 will therefore be the first production car to reach
level 3 autonomous driving, meaning that the driver can safely turn their attention away from driving tasks, e.g. the driver can text or watch a movie. Audi will also be the first manufacturer to use a 3D
Lidar
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
system in addition to cameras and ultrasonic sensors for their AI.
Bodyshells
Audi produces 100%
galvanised cars to prevent
corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
, and was the first mass-market vehicle to do so, following introduction of the process by
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
, c. 1975. Along with other precautionary measures, the full-body
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
coating has proved to be very effective in preventing rust. The body's resulting durability even surpassed Audi's own expectations, causing the manufacturer to extend its original 10-year
warranty against corrosion perforation to currently 12 years (except for aluminium bodies which do not rust).
Space Frame
![Audi R8 - Flickr - Alexandre Prévot (160) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Audi_R8_-_Flickr_-_Alexandre_Pr%C3%A9vot_%28160%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Audi introduced a new series of vehicles in the mid-1990s and continues to pursue new technology and high performance. An all-aluminium car was brought forward by Audi, and in 1994 the
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
was launched, which introduced aluminium
space frame
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
technology (called ''Audi Space Frame'' or ASF) which saves weight and improves torsion rigidity compared to a conventional steel frame. Prior to that effort, Audi used examples of the Type 44 chassis fabricated out of aluminium as test-beds for the technique. The disadvantage of the aluminium frame is that it is very expensive to repair and requires a specialized aluminium bodyshop. The weight reduction is somewhat offset by the
quattro
Quattro is Italian for the number four.
Quattro may also refer to:
People
* "Quattro", a nickname of A. J. Foyt IV
Fictional characters
* Quattro Vageena or Quattro Bageena, an alias of Char Aznable in the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime series
...
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
system which is standard in most markets. Nonetheless, the A8 is usually the lightest all-wheel drive car in the full-size luxury segment, also having best-in-class fuel economy. The
Audi A2
The Audi A2 (internally designated ''Typ'' 8Z) is a compact MPV-styled supermini car, with a five-door hatchback body style and four or five seats,ETKA official factory data produced by the German manufacturer Audi from November 1999 (for the 200 ...
,
Audi TT and
Audi R8 also use Audi Space Frame designs.
Drivetrains
Layout
For most of its lineup (excluding the A3, A1, and TT models), Audi has not adopted the transverse engine layout which is typically found in economy cars (such as Peugeot and Citroën), since that would limit the type and power of engines that can be installed. To be able to mount powerful engines (such as a V8 engine in the
Audi S4
The Audi S4 is the high performance variant of Audi's compact executive car A4. The original Audi S4, built from 1991 until 1994, was a performance-oriented version of Audi's 100 saloon/sedan. All subsequent S4s since 1997 have been based on ...
and
Audi RS4, as well as the
W12 engine
A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where three banks of four cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft.
W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used by several aircraft engines from 1917 unti ...
in the
Audi A8L W12), Audi has usually engineered its more expensive cars with a
longitudinally front-mounted engine, in an "overhung" position, over the front wheels in front of the axle line - this layout dates back to the DKW and Auto Union saloons from the 1950s. But while this allows for the easy adoption of all-wheel drive, it goes against the ideal 50:50 weight distribution.
In all its post
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
-era models, Audi has firmly refused to adopt the traditional
rear-wheel drive
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars.
Most rear-wheel ...
layout favored by its two archrivals
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
and
BMW, favoring either
front-wheel drive or
all-wheel drive
An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand.
The most common forms of all-wheel drive are:
;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
. The majority of Audi's lineup in the United States features all-wheel drive standard on most of its expensive vehicles (only the entry-level trims of the A4 and A6 are available with front-wheel drive), in contrast to
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
and
BMW whose lineup treats all-wheel drive as an option. BMW did not offer all-wheel drive on its V8-powered cars (as opposed to crossover SUVs) until the 2010 BMW 7 Series and 2011 BMW 5 Series, while the Audi A8 has had all-wheel drive available/standard since the 1990s. Regarding high-performance variants,
Audi S and RS models have always had all-wheel drive, unlike their direct rivals from
BMW M and
Mercedes-AMG whose cars are rear-wheel drive only (although their performance crossover SUVs are all-wheel drive).
Audi has recently applied the ''
quattro
Quattro is Italian for the number four.
Quattro may also refer to:
People
* "Quattro", a nickname of A. J. Foyt IV
Fictional characters
* Quattro Vageena or Quattro Bageena, an alias of Char Aznable in the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime series
...
'' badge to models such as the A3 and TT which do not use the
Torsen
Torsen Torque-Sensing (full name Torsen traction) is a type of limited-slip differential used in automobiles.
It was invented by American Vernon Gleasman and manufactured by the Gleason Corporation. Torsen is a portmanteau of Torque-Sensing. ''TO ...
-based system as in prior years with a mechanical center differential, but with the
Haldex Traction electro-mechanical clutch AWD system.
Engines
![Volkswagen W12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Volkswagen_W12.jpg)
Prior to the introduction of the Audi 80 and Audi 50 in 1972 and 1974, respectively, Audi had led the development of the ''EA111'' and ''EA827''
inline-four engine families. These new power units underpinned the water-cooled revival of parent company Volkswagen (in the Polo, Golf, Passat and Scirocco), whilst the many derivatives and descendants of these two basic engine designs have appeared in every generation of VW Group vehicles right up to the present day.
In the 1980s, Audi, along with Volvo, was the champion of the
inline-five cylinder,
2.1/2.2 L engine as a longer-lasting alternative to more traditional six-cylinder engines. This engine was used not only in production cars but also in their race cars. The 2.1 L inline five-cylinder engine was used as a base for the
rally cars in the 1980s, providing well over after modification. Before 1990, there were engines produced with a displacement between 2.0 L and 2.3 L. This range of engine capacity allowed for both fuel economy and power.
For the ultra-luxury version of its
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
fullsize luxury flagship sedan, the Audi A8L W12, Audi uses the
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
W12 engine
A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where three banks of four cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft.
W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used by several aircraft engines from 1917 unti ...
instead of the conventional
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines.
The fi ...
favored by rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The W12 engine configuration (also known as a "WR12") is created by forming two imaginary narrow-angle 15°
VR6 engine
VR6 engines are V6 piston engines with a narrow angle between the cylinder banks and a single cylinder head covering both banks of cylinders.
Volkswagen Group introduced the first VR6 engine in 1991 and VR6 engines currently remain in producti ...
s at an angle of 72°, and the narrow angle of each set of cylinders allows just two
overhead camshafts to drive each pair of banks, so just four are needed in total. The advantage of the W12 engine is its compact packaging, allowing Audi to build a 12-cylinder sedan with all-wheel drive, whereas a conventional
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines.
The fi ...
could have only a rear-wheel drive configuration as it would have no space in the engine bay for a differential and other components required to power the front wheels. In fact, the 6.0 L W12 in the Audi A8L W12 is smaller in overall dimensions than the 4.2 L V8 that powers the Audi A8 4.2 variants. The 2011 Audi A8 debuted a revised 6.3-litre version of the W12 (WR12) engine with .
Fuel Stratified Injection
New models of the A3, A4, A6 and A8 have been introduced, with the ageing 1.8-litre engine now having been replaced by new
Fuel Stratified Injection
Gasoline direct injection (GDI), also known as petrol direct injection (PDI), is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines that run on gasoline (petrol), where fuel is injected into the combustion chamber. This is distinct fro ...
(FSI) engines. Nearly every petroleum burning model in the range now incorporates this fuel-saving technology.
Direct-Shift Gearbox
In 2003, Volkswagen introduced the
Direct-Shift Gearbox
A direct-shift gearbox (DSG, german: Direktschaltgetriebe) is an electronically-controlled, dual-clutch, multiple-shaft, automatic gearbox, in either a transaxle or traditional transmission layout (depending on engine/drive configuration), w ...
(DSG), a type of
dual-clutch transmission
A dual-clutch transmission (DCT) (sometimes referred to as a twin-clutch transmission) is a type of multi-speed motor vehicle, vehicle Transmission (mechanics), transmission system, that uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear train, g ...
. It is a type of
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...
, drivable like a conventional torque converter
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...
. Based on the gearbox found in the Group B S1, the system includes dual electro-hydraulically controlled
clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
es instead of a
torque converter
A torque converter is a type of fluid coupling that transfers rotating power from a prime mover, like an internal combustion engine, to a rotating driven load. In a vehicle with an automatic transmission, the torque converter connects the power ...
. This is implemented in some
VW Golfs,
Audi A3,
Audi A4 and
TT models where DSG is called S-Tronic.
LED daytime running lights
Beginning in 2005, Audi has implemented white
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
technology as
daytime running lights (DRL) in their products. The distinctive shape of the DRLs has become a trademark of sorts. LEDs were first introduced on the
Audi A8 W12
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
, the world's first production car to have LED DRLs, and have since spread throughout the entire model range. The LEDs are present on some Audi
billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
s.
Since 2010, Audi has also offered the
LED technology in low- and high-beam headlights.
Multi Media Interface
![Audi TT 2014 (13558812864)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Audi_TT_2014_%2813558812864%29.jpg)
Starting with the 2003
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
, Audi has used a centralised control interface for its on-board
infotainment
Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of infor ...
systems, called
Multi Media Interface The Multi Media Interface (MMI) system is an in-car user interface media system developed by Audi, and was launched at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show on the Audi Avantissimo concept car. Production MMI was introduced in the second generation Audi A8 ...
(MMI). It is essentially a rotating control knob and 'segment' buttons – designed to control all in-car entertainment devices (radio, CD changer, iPod, TV tuner), satellite navigation, heating and ventilation, and other car controls with a screen.
The availability of MMI has gradually filtered down the Audi lineup, and following its introduction on the third generation A3 in 2011, MMI is now available across the entire range. It has been generally well received, as it requires less menu-surfing with its segment buttons around a central knob, along with 'main function' direct access buttons – with shortcuts to the radio or phone functions. The colour screen is mounted on the upright dashboard, and on the A4 (new), A5, A6, A8, and Q7, the controls are mounted horizontally.
Synthetic fuels
Audi has assisted with technology to produce
synthetic diesel from water and
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
. Audi calls the synthetic diesel
E-diesel E-diesel is a synthetic diesel fuel created by Audi for use in automobiles. Currently, e-diesel is created by an Audi research facility in partnership with a company named Sunfire. The fuel is created from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity wit ...
. It is also working on synthetic gasoline (which it calls E-gasoline).
Logistics
Audi uses scanning gloves for parts registration during assembly, and automatic robots to transfer cars from factory to rail cars.
Models
Current model range
The following tables list Audi production vehicles that are sold as of 2018:
S and RS models
Electric vehicles
Audi is planning an alliance with the Japanese electronics giant
Sanyo to develop a pilot hybrid electric project for the
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
. The alliance could result in Sanyo batteries and other electronic components being used in future models of the Volkswagen Group. Concept electric vehicles unveiled to date include the
Audi A1
The Audi A1 (internally designated ''Typ 8X'') is a supermini car launched by Audi at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. Sales of the initial three-door A1 model started in Germany in August 2010, with the United Kingdom following in November 2010. A ...
Sportback Concept,
Audi A4 TDI Concept E, and the fully electric Audi e-tron Concept Supercar.
Self-driving cars
In December 2018, Audi announced to invest 14 billion Euro ($15.9 billion) in e-mobility, self-driving cars.
Production figures
* Data from 1998 to 2010. Figures for different body types/versions of models have been merged to create overall figures for each model.
Motorsport
Audi has competed in various forms of
motorsports
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
. Audi's tradition in motorsport began with their former company
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
in the 1930s. In the 1990s, Audi found success in the Touring and Super Touring categories of motor racing after success in circuit racing in North America.
Rallying
![Portugal 84 Audi Quattro A2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Portugal_84_Audi_Quattro_A2.jpg)
In 1980, Audi released the
Quattro
Quattro is Italian for the number four.
Quattro may also refer to:
People
* "Quattro", a nickname of A. J. Foyt IV
Fictional characters
* Quattro Vageena or Quattro Bageena, an alias of Char Aznable in the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime series
...
, a
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
(4WD)
turbocharged
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
car that went on to win
rallies and races worldwide. It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time, because it was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of four-wheel drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of four-wheel drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was to become a successful car. It led its first rally before going off the road, however, the rally world had been served notice 4WD was the future. The Quattro went on to achieve much success in the
World Rally Championship. It won the
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
(
Hannu Mikkola
Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
Career
Mikkola's rally career s ...
) and the
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
(
Stig Blomqvist)
drivers' titles, and brought Audi the
manufacturers' title in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
and 1984.
![Audi Quattro - 2007 Rallye Deutschland (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Audi_Quattro_-_2007_Rallye_Deutschland_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 1984, Audi launched the short-wheelbase
Sport Quattro which dominated rally races in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, with Audi taking all podium places, but succumbed to problems further into WRC contention. In
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
, after another season mired in mediocre finishes,
Walter Röhrl finished the season in his
Sport Quattro S1, and helped place Audi second in the manufacturers' points. Audi also received rally honours in the Hong Kong to Beijing rally in that same year.
Michèle Mouton
Michèle Mouton (born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.
Mouton debuted ...
, the only female driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship and a driver for Audi, took the Sport Quattro S1, now simply called the "S1", and raced in the
Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The climb race pits a driver and car to drive to the summit of the
Pikes Peak mountain in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, and in 1985, Michèle Mouton set a new record of 11:25.39, and being the first woman to set a Pikes Peak record. In
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
, Audi formally left international rally racing following an accident in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
involving driver
Joaquim Santos
Joaquim is the Portuguese and Catalan version of Joachim and may refer to:
* Alberto Joaquim Chipande, politician
* Eduardo Joaquim Mulémbwè, politician
* Joaquim Agostinho (1943–1984), Portuguese professional bicycle racer
* Joaquim Amat- ...
in his
Ford RS200. Santos swerved to avoid hitting spectators in the road, and left the track into the crowd of spectators on the side, killing three and injuring 30.
Bobby Unser
Robert William Unser (February 20, 1934 – May 2, 2021) was an American automobile racer. At his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, he had the fourth most IndyCar Series wins at 35 (behind his brother Al, A. J. Fo ...
used an Audi in that same year to claim a new record for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb at 11:09.22.
In 1987, Walter Röhrl claimed the title for Audi setting a new Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record of 10:47.85 in his Audi S1, which he had retired from the WRC two years earlier. The Audi S1 employed Audi's time-tested
inline-five-cylinder turbocharged engine, with the final version generating .
The engine was mated to a six-speed gearbox and ran on Audi's famous four-wheel drive system. All of Audi's top drivers drove this car; Hannu Mikkola, Stig Blomqvist, Walter Röhrl and Michèle Mouton. This Audi S1 started the range of Audi
'S' cars, which now represents an increased level of sports-performance equipment within the mainstream Audi model range.
In the United States
As Audi moved away from rallying and into circuit racing, they chose to move first into America with the
Trans-Am
The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includin ...
in 1988.
In 1989, Audi moved to
International Motor Sports Association
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
(IMSA)
GTO with the
Audi 90, however as they avoided the two major endurance events (Daytona and Sebring) despite winning on a regular basis, they would lose out on the title.
Touring cars
In 1990, having completed their objective to market cars in North America, Audi returned to Europe, turning first to the
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) series with the
Audi V8, and then in 1993, being unwilling to build cars for the new formula, they turned their attention to the fast-growing
Super Touring series, which are a series of national championships. Audi first entered in the
French Supertourisme and
Italian Superturismo
The Italian Superturismo Championship (Campionato Italiano Superturismo) is Italy's national motorsport series for touring cars. It was established in 1987 and its drivers' title has been held by such notable drivers as Le Mans winner Emanuele Pir ...
. In the following year, Audi would switch to the German
Super Tourenwagen Cup (known as STW), and then to
British Touring Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA
TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...
(BTCC) the year after that.
The
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
(FIA), having difficulty regulating the
quattro
Quattro is Italian for the number four.
Quattro may also refer to:
People
* "Quattro", a nickname of A. J. Foyt IV
Fictional characters
* Quattro Vageena or Quattro Bageena, an alias of Char Aznable in the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime series
...
four-wheel drive system, and the impact it had on the competitors, would eventually ban all four-wheel drive cars from competing in the series in 1998,
but by then, Audi switched all their works efforts to
sports car racing.
By 2000, Audi would still compete in the US with their
RS4 for the
SCCA Speed World GT Challenge, through dealer/team
Champion Racing competing against Corvettes, Vipers, and smaller BMWs (where it is one of the few series to permit 4WD cars). In 2003, Champion Racing entered an
RS6
The Audi RS 6 is a high-performance variant of the Audi A6 range, produced by the high-performance subsidiary company Audi Sport GmbH, for its parent company Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, from 2002 onwards.
The first and se ...
. Once again, the quattro four-wheel drive was superior, and Champion Audi won the championship. They returned in 2004 to defend their title, but a newcomer, Cadillac with the new Omega Chassis CTS-V, gave them a run for their money. After four victories in a row, the Audis were sanctioned with several negative changes that deeply affected the car's performance. Namely, added ballast weights, and Champion Audi deciding to go with different tyres, and reducing the boost pressure of the turbocharger.
In 2004, after years of competing with the
TT-R in the revitalised DTM series, with privateer team Abt Racing/
Christian Abt taking the 2002 title with
Laurent Aïello
Laurent Aïello (born 23 May 1969 in Fontenay-aux-Roses) is a French former race car driver, most notable for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1999, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) ...
, Audi returned as a full factory effort to touring car racing by entering two factory-supported
Joest Racing A4 DTM cars.
24 Hours of Le Mans
![Audi R10 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Audi_R10_1.JPG)
Audi began racing prototype sportscars in 1999, debuting at the Le Mans 24 hour. Two car concepts were developed and raced in their first season - the
Audi R8R
The Audi R8R was a Le Mans Prototype built by Audi for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a predecessor to the dominant Audi R8 which debuted in 2000. It was raced alongside the British built closed-cockpit Audi R8C.
Development
The R8R project ...
(open-cockpit 'roadster' prototype) and the
Audi R8C
The Audi R8C is a Le Mans Prototype racecar that was built by Audi and designed by Peter Elleray to compete in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans under the LMGTP category. It was developed alongside the open Audi R8R LMP category spyder, prior to being ...
(closed-cockpit 'coupé' GT-prototype). The R8R scored a credible podium on its racing debut at Le Mans and was the concept which Audi continued to develop into the 2000 season due to favourable rules for open-cockpit prototypes.
However, most of the competitors (such as BMW, Toyota, Mercedes and Nissan) retired at the end of 1999.
The factory-supported
Joest Racing team won at Le Mans three times in a row with the Audi R8 (2000–2002), as well as winning every race in the
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
in its first year. Audi also sold the car to customer teams such as
Champion Racing.
In 2003, two
Bentley Speed 8
The Bentley Speed 8 (developed from the Bentley EXP Speed 8) was an Autosport Award Winning Le Mans Prototype race car that was designed by Peter Elleray. The EXP Speed 8 debuted in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001 and won the race in 2003. I ...
s, with engines designed by Audi, and driven by Joest drivers ''loaned'' to the fellow
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
company, competed in the GTP class, and finished the race in the top two positions, while the Champion Racing R8 finished third overall, and first in the LMP900 class. Audi returned to the winner's podium at the 2004 race, with the top three finishers all driving R8s: Audi Sport Japan Team Goh finished first, Audi Sport UK Veloqx second, and Champion Racing third.
At the
2005 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 73rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 73e 24 Heures du Mans) was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race held for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars from 18 to 19 June 2005 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close by Le ...
, Champion Racing entered two R8s, along with an R8 from the Audi PlayStation Team
Oreca. The R8s (which were built to old LMP900 regulations) received a narrower air inlet restrictor, reducing power, and an additional of weight compared to the newer LMP1 chassis. On average, the R8s were about 2–3 seconds off pace compared to the
Pescarolo–
Judd. But with a team of excellent drivers and experience, both Champion R8s were able to take first and third, while the Oreca team took fourth. The Champion team was also the first American team to win Le Mans since the Gulf Ford GTs in 1967. This also ends the long era of the R8; however, its replacement for 2006, called the
Audi R10 TDI
The Audi R10 TDI, usually abbreviated to R10, is a diesel-powered racing car from the German car manufacturer Audi. The car dominated Le Mans, winning each year from its 2006 introduction until it was replaced by the R15 in 2009. It was design ...
, was unveiled on 13 December 2005.
The R10
TDI employed many new and innovative features, the most notable being the
twin-turbo
Twin-turbo (not to be confused with a twincharger setup, which is a combination of a supercharger and a turbocharger) refers to an engine in which two turbochargers work in tandem to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case ...
charged
direct injection diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
. It was first raced in the
2006 12 Hours of Sebring
The 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was the 54th running of this event, and took place on March 18, 2006. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2006 American Le Mans Series season run by IMSA.
This race marked the first ti ...
as a race-test in preparation for the
2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro, driving the Audi R10 TDI. For the first time in the history of th ...
, which it later went on to win. Audi had a win in the first diesel sports car at 12 Hours of Sebring (the car was developed with a Diesel engine due to ACO regulations that favor diesel engines). As well as winning the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
in 2006, the R10 TDI beat the
Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, starting in 2007 and eventually winning in 2009. This effort, in development sin ...
in , and in , (however Peugeot won the 24h in 2009) with a podium clean-sweep (all four 908 entries retired) while breaking a distance record (set by the
Porsche 917
The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from ...
K of
Martini Racing in ), in with the
R15 TDI Plus.
Audi's sports car racing success would continue with the
Audi R18
The Audi R18 is a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racing car constructed by the German car manufacturer Audi AG. It is the successor to the Audi R15 TDI. Like its predecessor, the R18 uses a TDI turbocharged diesel engine but with a reduced capacity of ...
's victory at the
2011 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 79th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''79e 24 Heures du Mans'') was an 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars. The race was held from 11 to 12 June 2011 at the Circuit de ...
.
Audi Sport Team Joest
Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
Early years
As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began to ...
's
Benoît Tréluyer earned Audi their first
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
in five years while the team's sister car locked out the front row.
Early accidents eliminated two of Audi's three entries, but the sole remaining
Audi R18 TDI of Tréluyer,
Marcel Fässler, and
André Lotterer
André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver currently racing for Avalanche Andretti Formula E in the FIA Formula E Championship. He is best known for his success in endurance racing with the works Audi team, ...
held off the trio of
Peugeot 908s to claim victory by a margin of 13.8 seconds.
Results
American Le Mans Series
Audi entered a factory racing team run by
Joest Racing into the American Le Mans Series under the Audi Sport North America name in 2000. This was a successful operation with the team winning on its debut in the series at the 2000 12 Hours of Sebring. Factory-backed Audi R8s were the dominant car in ALMS taking 25 victories between 2000 and the end of the 2002 season. In 2003, Audi sold customer cars to
Champion Racing as well as continuing to race the factory Audi Sport North America team. Champion Racing won many races as a private team running Audi R8s and eventually replaced Team Joest as the Audi Sport North America between 2006 and 2008. Since 2009 Audi has not taken part in full American Le Mans Series Championships, but has competed in the series opening races at Sebring, using the 12-hour race as a test for Le Mans, and also as part of the
2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season
The 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship was the inaugural running of the World Endurance Championship. It was co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series replaced t ...
calendar.
Results
European Le Mans Series
Audi participated in the
2003 1000km of Le Mans
The 2003 1000 km of Le Mans was a one-off sports car event run under the organization of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) in preparation for the Le Mans Endurance Series that began in 2004. It was run on 9 November 2003 at the Bugatti Circ ...
which was a one-off sports car race in preparation for the
2004 European Le Mans Series
4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky in many East Asian c ...
. The factory team Audi Sport UK won races and the championship in the 2004 season but Audi was unable to match their sweeping success of Audi Sport North America in the American Le Mans Series, partly due to the arrival of a factory competitor in LMP1, Peugeot. The French manufacturer's
908 HDi FAP became the car to beat in the series from 2008 onwards with 20 LMP wins. However, Audi were able to secure the championship in 2008 even though Peugeot scored more race victories in the season.
Results
World Endurance Championship
2012
In 2012, the FIA sanctioned a
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
which would be organised by the ACO as a continuation of the ILMC. Audi competed won the first WEC race at Sebring and followed this up with a further three successive wins, including the
2012 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''80e 24 Heures du Mans'') was an 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 16 to 17 June 2012 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le M ...
. Audi scored a final 5th victory in the 2012 WEC in Bahrain and were able to win the inaugural WEC Manufacturers' Championship.
2013
As defending champions, Audi once again entered the
Audi R18 e-tron quattro chassis into the
2013 WEC and the team won the first five consecutive races, including the
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...
. The victory at Round 5,
Circuit of the Americas, was of particular significance as it marked the 100th win for Audi in Le Mans prototypes. Audi secured their second consecutive WEC Manufacturers' Championship at Round 6 after taking second place and half points in the red-flagged Fuji race.
2014
For the 2014 season, Audi entered a redesigned and upgraded R18 e-tron quattro which featured a 2
MJ energy recovery system. As defending champions, Audi would once again face a challenge in
LMP1 from
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, and additionally from
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
who returned to endurance racing after a 16-year absence. The season-opening
6hrs of Silverstone was a disaster for Audi who saw both cars retire from the race, marking the first time that an Audi car has failed to score a podium in a
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
race.
Results
Formula E
Audi provide factory support to
Abt Sportsline in the
FIA Formula E Championship, The team competed under the title of Audi Sport Abt Formula E Team in the inaugural
2014-15 Formula E season. On 13 February 2014 the team announced its driver line up as
Daniel Abt and World Endurance Championship driver
Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
.
Formula One
Audi has been linked to
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
in recent years but has always resisted due to the company's opinion that it is not relevant to road cars, but hybrid power unit technology has been adopted into the sport, swaying the company's view and encouraging research into the program by former
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
team principal
Stefano Domenicali
Stefano Domenicali (born 11 May 1965) is an Italian manager and the current CEO of Formula One Group, replacing Chase Carey. He was the CEO of Italian sports car manufacturer Lamborghini from 2016 to 2020. He was the team principal of the Scu ...
.
Audi announced in August 2022 that it would enter the Championship as an engine manufacturer in . In October, Audi confirmed its partnership with
Sauber Motorsport for the year 2026, acquiring a stake in the company for the German brand to enter the competition by naming the team and as an engine supplier
Current factory drivers
Marketing
Branding
![Typeface sample Audi Type](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Typeface_sample_Audi_Type.png)
The Audi emblem is four overlapping rings that represent the four
marques of Auto Union. The Audi emblem symbolises the amalgamation of Audi with DKW, Horch and Wanderer: the first ring from the left represents Audi, the second represents DKW, third is Horch, and the fourth and last ring Wanderer.
The design is popularly believed to have been the idea of
Klaus von Oertzen Baron Claus-Detlof von Oertzen (13 April 1894 – 25 July 1991) was involved in the motor industry for most of his long life and is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Volkswagen of South Africa”.
During 1932, four motor manufacturers ...
, the director of sales at
Wanderer
Wanderer, Wanderers, or The Wanderer may refer to:
* Nomadism, Nomadic and/or itinerant people, working short-term before moving to other locations, who wander from place to place with no permanent home, or are vagrancy (people), vagrant
* The Wan ...
– when
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
was chosen as the host city for the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
and that a form of the Olympic logo symbolized the newly established Auto Union's desire to succeed. Somewhat ironically, the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
later sued Audi in the International Trademark Court in 1995, where they lost.
The original "Audi" script, with the distinctive slanted tails on the "A" and "d" was created for the historic Audi company in 1920 by the famous graphic designer
Lucian Bernhard, and was resurrected when Volkswagen revived the brand in 1965. Following the demise of NSU in 1977, less prominence was given to the four rings, in preference to the "Audi" script encased within a black (later red) ellipse, and was commonly displayed next to the Volkswagen roundel when the two brands shared a dealer network under the V.A.G banner. The ellipse (known as the Audi Oval) was phased out after 1994, when Audi formed its own independent dealer network, and prominence was given back to the four rings – at the same time Audi Sans (a derivative of
Univers
Univers () is a large sans-serif typeface family designed by Adrian Frutiger and released by his employer Deberny & Peignot in 1957. Classified as a Grotesque (typeface classification), neo-grotesque sans-serif, one based on the model of nineteen ...
) was adopted as the font for all marketing materials, corporate communications and was also used in the vehicles themselves.
As part of Audi's centennial celebration in 2009, the company updated the logo, changing the
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
to left-aligned Audi Type, and altering the shading for the overlapping rings. The revised logo was designed by Rayan Abdullah.
Audi developed a Corporate Sound concept, with Audi Sound Studio designed for producing the Corporate Sound. The Corporate Sound project began with sound agency Klangerfinder GmbH & Co KG and s12 GmbH. Audio samples were created in Klangerfinder's sound studio in Stuttgart, becoming part of Audi Sound Studio collection. Other Audi Sound Studio components include The Brand Music Pool, The Brand Voice. Audi also developed Sound Branding Toolkit including certain instruments, sound themes, rhythm and car sounds which all are supposed to reflect the AUDI sound character.
Audi started using a beating heart sound trademark beginning in 1996. An updated heartbeat sound logo, developed by agencies KLANGERFINDER GmbH & Co KG of Stuttgart and S12 GmbH of Munich, was first used in 2010 in an
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
commercial with the slogan ''The Art of Progress''.
Slogans
Audi's corporate
tagline is , meaning "Progress through Technology". The German-language tagline is used in many European countries, including the United Kingdom (but not in Italy, where is used), and in other markets, such as Latin America, Oceania, Africa and parts of Asia including Japan. Originally, the American tagline was ''Innovation through technology'', but in Canada ''Vorsprung durch Technik'' was used. Since 2007, Audi has used the slogan ''Truth in Engineering'' in the U.S. However, since the
Audi emissions testing scandal came to light in September 2015, this slogan was lambasted for being discordant with reality. In fact, just hours after disgraced Volkswagen CEO
Martin Winterkorn admitted to cheating on emissions data, an advertisement during the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards promoted Audi's latest advances in low emissions technology with Kermit the Frog stating, "It's not that easy being green."
''Vorsprung durch Technik'' was first used in English-language advertising after Sir John Hegarty of the
Bartle Bogle Hegarty advertising agency visited the Audi factory in 1982.
In the original British television commercials, the phrase was voiced by
Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to:
Politicians
*Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician
*Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire
*Geoffrey Pal ...
.
After its repeated use in advertising campaigns, the phrase found its way into popular culture, including the British comedy ''
Only Fools and Horses'', the
U2 song "
Zooropa" and the
Blur song "
Parklife
''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence in ...
". Similar-sounding phrases have also been used, including as the punchline for a joke in the movie ''
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels'' and in the British TV series ''
Peep Show''.
Typography
Audi Sans (based on
Univers
Univers () is a large sans-serif typeface family designed by Adrian Frutiger and released by his employer Deberny & Peignot in 1957. Classified as a Grotesque (typeface classification), neo-grotesque sans-serif, one based on the model of nineteen ...
Extended) was originally created in 1997 by Ole Schäfer for
MetaDesign
Metadesign (or meta-design) is an emerging conceptual framework aimed at defining and creating social, economic and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative design can take place. It consists of a series of practical design-r ...
. MetaDesign was later commissioned for a new corporate typeface called Audi Type, designed by Paul van der Laan and Pieter van Rosmalen of
Bold Monday
In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech.
Methods and use
The most common methods in ...
. The font began to appear in Audi's 2009 products and marketing materials.
Sponsorships
![Allianz arena at night Richard Bartz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Allianz_arena_at_night_Richard_Bartz.jpg)
Audi is a strong partner of different kinds of sports. In
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, long partnerships exist between Audi and domestic clubs including
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
,
Hamburger SV,
1. FC Nürnberg
1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...
,
Hertha BSC
Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...
, and
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...
and international clubs including
Chelsea,
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
,
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
,
A.C. Milan,
AFC Ajax
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...
and
Perspolis
, native_name_lang =
, alternate_name =
, image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.
, map =
, map_type ...
. Audi also sponsors winter sports: The Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is named after the company. Additionally, Audi supports the
German Ski Association
The German Ski Association (german: Deutscher Skiverband or DSV) is the national governing body for skiing in Germany. The organisation was founded in 1905 among local ski clubs. The German Ski Association represents international interests of the ...
(DSV) as well as the alpine skiing national teams of Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, France, Liechtenstein, Italy, Austria and the U.S. For almost two decades, Audi fosters golf sport: for example with the Audi quattro Cup and the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open presented by Audi. In sailing, Audi is engaged in the Medcup regatta and supports the team
Luna Rossa
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, originally named Prada Challenge, then Luna Rossa Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. It won the Louis Vuitton Cup on their first attempt in 2000, but ...
during the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and also is the primary sponsor of the Melges 20 sailboat. Further, Audi sponsors the regional teams
ERC Ingolstadt (hockey) and
FC Ingolstadt 04 (soccer). In 2009, the year of Audi's 100th anniversary, the company organized the
Audi Cup for the first time. Audi also sponsor the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
as well. In October 2010 they agreed to a three sponsorship year-deal with
Everton. Audi also sponsors the England
Polo
Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...
Team and holds the
Audi Polo Awards
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The ...
.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Since the start of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
, Audi signed a deal to sponsor, promote and provide vehicles for several films. So far these have been, ''
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
'', ''
Iron Man 2'', ''
Iron Man 3'', ''
Avengers: Age of Ultron'', ''
Captain America: Civil War'', ''
Spider-Man: Homecoming'', ''
Avengers: Endgame'' and ''
Spider-Man: Far From Home''. The
R8 supercar became the personal vehicle for
Tony Stark (played by
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...
) for six of these films. The
e-tron vehicles were promoted in ''Endgame'' and ''Far From Home''. Several commercials were co-produced by Marvel and Audi to promote several new concepts and some of the latest vehicles such as the
A8,
SQ7 and the e-Tron fleet.
Multitronic campaign
In 2001, Audi promoted the new
multitronic continuously variable transmission
A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of gear ratios. This contrasts with other transmissions that provide a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. T ...
with television commercials throughout Europe, featuring an impersonator of musician and actor
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
. A
prototypical dashboard figure – later named "
Wackel-Elvis" ("Wobble Elvis" or "Wobbly Elvis") – appeared in the commercials to demonstrate the smooth ride in an Audi equipped with the multitronic transmission. The dashboard figure was originally intended for use in the commercials only, but after they aired the demand for Wackel-Elvis fans grew among fans and the figure was mass-produced in China and marketed by Audi in their factory outlet store.
Audi TDI
As part of Audi's attempt to promote its Diesel technology in 2009, the company began Audi Mileage Marathon. The driving tour featured a fleet of 23 Audi TDI vehicles from 4 models (
Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,
Audi Q5
The Audi Q5 is a series of compact luxury crossover SUVs produced by the German luxury car manufacturer Audi from 2008. The original first-generation (''Typ 8R'') model was the third member of the ''B8'' family to be released after the Audi A ...
3.0 TDI,
Audi A4 3.0 TDI,
Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TDI with S tronic transmission) travelling across the American continent from New York to Los Angeles, passing major cities like Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas during the 13 daily stages, as well as natural wonders including the Rocky Mountains, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon.
Audi e-tron
The next phase of technology Audi is developing is the
e-tron electric drive powertrain system. They have shown several concept cars , each with different levels of size and performance. The original e-tron concept shown at the 2009
Frankfurt motor show is based on the platform of the R8 and has been scheduled for limited production. Power is provided by electric motors at all four wheels. The second concept was shown at the 2010
Detroit Motor Show
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show as of 2022 and prior to NAIAS, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place. The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. I ...
. Power is provided by two electric motors at the rear axle. This concept is also considered to be the direction for a future mid-engined gas-powered 2-seat performance coupe. The
Audi A1
The Audi A1 (internally designated ''Typ 8X'') is a supermini car launched by Audi at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. Sales of the initial three-door A1 model started in Germany in August 2010, with the United Kingdom following in November 2010. A ...
e-tron concept, based on the Audi A1 production model, is a
hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids.
The basic princip ...
with a range extending
Wankel rotary engine
The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. T ...
to provide power after the initial charge of the battery is depleted. It is the only concept of the three to have range-extending capability. The car is powered through the front wheels, always using electric power.
It is all set to be displayed at the Auto Expo 2012 in New Delhi, India, from 5 January. Powered by a 1.4 litre engine, and can cover a distance up to 54 km s on a single charge. The e-tron was also shown in the 2013 blockbuster film Iron Man 3 and was driven by Tony Stark (Iron Man).
In video games
Audi has supported the European version of
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home was a virtual 3D social networking, social gaming platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It was accessible from the PS3's XrossMediaBar (XM ...
, the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
's online community-based service, by releasing a dedicated
Home space. Audi is the first carmaker to develop such a space for Home. On 17 December 2009, Audi released two spaces; the Audi Home Terminal and the Audi Vertical Run. The Audi Home Terminal features an Audi TV channel delivering video content, an Internet Browser feature, and a view of a city. The Audi Vertical Run is where users can access the mini-game Vertical Run, a futuristic mini-game featuring Audi's e-tron concept. Players collect energy and race for the highest possible speeds and the fastest players earn a place in the Audi apartments located in a large tower in the centre of the Audi Space. In both the Home Terminal and Vertical Run spaces, there are teleports where users can teleport back and forth between the two spaces. Audi had stated that additional content would be added in 2010. On 31 March 2015 Sony shutdown the PlayStation Home service rendering all content for it inaccessible.
See also
*
DKW
DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...
*
Horch
Horch () was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is one of the predecessors of the present day Audi company, which itself resulted from the merger of Auto Union Aktienges ...
*
Wanderer (company)
Wanderer was a German manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, vans and other machinery. Established as ''Winklhofer & Jaenicke'' in 1896 by Johann Baptist Winklhofer and Richard Adolf Jaenicke, the company used the ''Wanderer'' bran ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Companies based in Baden-Württemberg
Car manufacturers of Germany
Companies based in Bavaria
Companies based in Ingolstadt
Companies formerly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1909
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1939
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1965
Re-established companies
German brands
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Companies based in Saxony
Sports car manufacturers
Volkswagen Group
Car brands
German companies established in 1909