Company history

Audi was founded by August Horch in Zwickau, Germany on July 16 in 1909. Named after its founder, the company was first called “August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH”, which, however, could not be maintained due to legal restrictions when it came to using “Horch” as a trade name. Yet, the son of Horch’s close friend Franz Fikentscher came up with the later name “Audi”, which he derived from the Latin term for “to hear” – “audi”. In German, the actual expression for “hören” (=”to hear”) is often pronounced as “horch”, just like the family name of August Horch. Thus, “audi” could also be related to the family’s name and became the new name for the automobile manufacturer. In 1932, Audi Automobilwerke GmbH merged with three other car manufacturers (DKW, Horch, and Wanderer) and became the “Auto Union”, operating under the famous logo with four overlapping rings, each representing one of the individual companies. After World War II, however, Auto Union AG was resolved and renamed “VEB Automobilwerk Zwickau”, later on producing the famous “Trabant”. In 1958, Daimler-Benz 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, resulting in Daimler’s disposal of Auto Union in the early 1960s. Yet, between 1964 and 1966, all plants were taken over by the VW AG, which decided to reuse both the brand name Audi, as well as the ancient logo of the Auto Union. In 1985, Audi became Audi AG and is now an international car manufacturer headquartered in Ingolstadt Germany.

Strapline

Audi - Vorsprung durch Technik

Key people

Rupert Stadler, CEO

Rupert Stadler joined Audi in 1990 and serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer since January 2007. After graduating in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, he started his career at Philips Kommunikations Industrie AG in Nuremberg before joining Audi.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, Sales and Marketing

Peter Schwarzenbauer is responsible for all sales and marketing activities at Audi AG. After graduating from the University of Applied Sciences Munich, Schwarzenbauer started his career at BMW AG.. After joining Porsche AG in 1994, he became President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America.