About Audi Cars
 Audi started life in Germany in 1899 and was originally called Horch, which was the surname of it's founder August Horch. Horch produced it's first car in 1901, but in 1909 August was removed from the company, and when he set up a rival business but continued to use the Horch brand, he was sued. As a result he was forced to change the new company's name and so chose 'Audi', which is Latin for hark. The German for hark is 'Horch'.
August Horch left Audi in 1920, and in September of the following year Audi became the first German car manufacturer to make a production car which was left-hand drive. This proved a great success as it improved the view of approaching traffic and made overtaking much safer. In 1932 Audi merged with DKW, Wanderer and Horch, and so was born the Auto Union and the famous four ring logo we are familiar with today. One ring for each of the companies.
In the years leading up to World War II, the Auto Union developed and produced military vehicles alongside it's car manufacturing. However, civilian production was halted with the outbreak of war and the Auto Union became a major supplier of military hardware to Germany's armed forces. As a result their factories were heavily bombed.
In 1958 Daimler Benz obtained 87% of the Auto Union and acquired the remaining 13% in the following year. Shortly after, in 1964, Volkswagon took over the Auto Union factory in Ingolstadt along with trade mark rights to the brand. Then in 1969 the Auto Union merged with NSU, a well established company specialising in small cars such as the NSU Prinz.
The new company was known as Audi NSU Auto Union AG, and from this Audi emerged as a distinct brand once again, the first time this had happend since before the war. Audi was introduced into the USA in 1970.
The first new car to be produced was the Audi 100 in 1968. This was the first of many successful models, perhaps the most famous being the turbo charged Audi Quattro in 1980. By 1985 the NSU and Auto Union brands had virtually disappeared and the company was renamed Audi AG. The company continues to go from strength to strength and in 2007 worldwide sales were 964,151 vehicles sold, an Audi record, set to be broken in 2008 if sales predictions are accurate.
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