Audi

 

AUDI AG  and its subsidiaries design, engineer, manufacture and distribute automobiles and motorcycles under the Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini brands. Audi oversees worldwide operations from its headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany. Audi-branded vehicles are produced in seven production facilities worldwide; Ducati and Lamborghini each have one production facility located in Italy.

AUDI AG has been a majority owned (99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 1966, following a phased purchase of AUDI AG's predecessor, Auto Union, from Daimler-Benz.Volkswagen relaunched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series.

The company name is based on the surname of the founder, August Horch. "Horch", meaning "listen", becomes "Audi" when translated into Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create the company. Audi's slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning "Advancement through Technology". Recently in the United States, Audi has updated the slogan to "Truth in Engineering".

The largest shareholder of Audi AG is Volkswagen AG, which holds approximately 99.5 % of the share capital.Volkswagen AG includes the consolidated accounts of Audi AG in its own financial statements.

From 2002 up to 2007, Audi headed the Audi Brand Group, a subdivision of the Volkswagen Group's Automotive Division consisting of Audi, Lamborghini and SEAT, that was focused on sporty values, with the marques' product vehicles and performance being under the higher responsibility of the Audi brand. 

Originally, in 1885, automobile company Wanderer was established, 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's four-wheeler.

On 14 November 1899, August Horch (1868–1951) established the company A. Horch & Cie. in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, but because of a dispute between him and the supervisory board, he had to leave the company. In 1909, he established a second company, Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH. The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10/22 hp (16 kW) Sport-Phaeton, was produced in 1910 in Zwickau.

In 1909, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded.He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement, and the German Supreme Court (Reichsgericht in Berlin),finally determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company.

Since August Horch was banned 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, Germany. 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... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead ofhorch?""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.The first Audi car, the Type B, 10/28PS was delivered early in 1910.

Audi started with a 2,612 cc inline-four engine model 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-cylindermodel, 4,655 cc appeared in 1924.

August Horch left the Audi company 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.Left-hand drive spread and established dominance during the 1920s because it provided a better view of oncoming traffic, making overtaking safer.

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 and Audi A3 TDI Clean Diesel.In May 2012, Audi reported a 10% increase in its sales at 480 units which was 408 a year ago.

Audi has 7 manufacturing plants around the world,although many sub-assemblies such as engines and transmissions are manufactured within other Volkswagen Group plants around the world.