Audi is one of the foremost automobile manufacturers today. Here are some interesting facts about the company that you should know:
HORCH MEANS HEAR, HEAR MEANS AUDI
August Horch founded his first car company, A. Horch & Cie.in 1899. But just 10 years later, Horch had a disagreement with his Chief Financial officer, and left his own company to start August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. Unfortunately, Horch soon learned that the Horch name belonged to his former company when he was notified of a copyright infringement. In response, Horch changed his new company’s name to the Latin translation of his last name. In German, Horch means “hear”, which in Latin is “audi”.
HORCH WORKED UNDER KARL BENZ
August Horch, the founder of Audi, was a young German engineer who started out as a blacksmith. After receiving his degree in engineering, he worked in shipbuilding before working under Karl Benz, founder of Mercedes-Benz car manufacturing company. Horch worked under Benz for 3 years before starting his own venture.
FOUR RINGS LOGO
Four companies make up the Audi Company. The four rings on the company logo each represent one of the companies. DKW, Horsch and Wanderer are the three other companies of the group, which was also known as the Auto Union.
FIRST GERMAN LEFT-HAND DRIVE CAR
In September 1921, Audi released the Type K, which was the first production left-hand drive car by a German manufacturer. Consequently, left-hand driving increased in popularity.
FIRST TO CARRY OUT CRASH TESTS
Audi was the first company to carry out crash tests. In 1938, the company performed some crash tests in order to figure out how the car would react in case of an accident. Thus, the company set a precedent that is still being followed to this day.
OLYMPICS SUED AUDI BECAUSE OF THE RINGS DESIGN
The International Olympic Committee sued Audi in 1995 over trademark infringement, due to the similarity of the four-ring Audi logo and the Olympic Games logo. The Olympic Committee lost the case.
PRODUCED THE FASTEST CAR IN THE WORLD IN 1938
Mercedes and Audi have always been in rivalry, both on and off the track. In 1938, just before World War 2, the Auto Union took the help of Ferdinand Porsche to design the fastest tack car. The alliance came up with a 560 horsepower producing V16 beast, called the Auto Union Type C. thanks to the rear-mounted engine and enhanced handling, the Type C clocked 430 kmph on the Autobahn.
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