Audi

History

Audi goes back to August Horch, who had left his original company A. Horch & Cie. and set up a second car factory in Zwickau. Barred from using his own name for it, he had it translated into Latin: the idea came up at a meeting in the apartment of his business friend Franz Fikentscher, whose son was doing his Latin homework in the same room. "Audi" is the imperative of "audire" and means exactly what the German "horch" means. The company was registered under that name on 25 April 1910. After World War II, Auto Union was established in 1949 in Ingolstadt as a fresh start. In 1964, Volkswagen acquired majority control of Auto Union and developed it into the modern Audi brand, known today for luxury and technical innovation.

EV strategy

In 2021 Audi announced it would launch only electric models from 2026 and end combustion engine production by 2033. Both dates are gone: in June 2025 CEO Gernot Döllner said Audi was extending production beyond the end dates communicated in the past and keeping combustion and plug-in hybrid models open for another seven to ten years. The more than 20 new models announced for 2024 and 2025 did arrive. In 2025 the brand delivered 223,032 electric cars, 36 percent more than the year before.

Good to know

• The iconic Audi logo with four rings represents the four founders of the original Auto Union: Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer.
• Audi is known for innovations in electronics, the "Vorsprung durch Technik" slogan (Advancement through Technology), and the Quattro all-wheel drive system.
• Ingolstadt has been Audi's global headquarters and production center since 1945; an electric plant in Changchun joined it in December 2024, designed for over 150,000 vehicles a year.