As far as humanity is concerned, a century is nothing but a swift blink of the human eye, which is nothing really impressive, but when you tie those same 100 years with the history of ONE car company, now that's actually saying something!
Audi is one of the few car enterprises that can actually boast about reaching the prolific century mark. This brief history synopsis doesn't even come close to properly crediting, addressing or acknowledging the overall level of contribution in which Audi has made to the automobile industry, as well as the enthusiast world as a whole.
Now please don't misconstrue what's being said, because Audi has most certainly experienced several downfalls and 'bumps in the road' over the years, to say the least, but keep in mind, now, that we are speaking about a period of over 100 years. Audi is a company of supreme excellence to which others aspire, but what you may not know is that Audi's lifeline initially began with a simple legalistic battle between lawyers. A little over a century ago, some very high-paid, lucrative lawyers who worked for August Horch's former partners argued that Horch couldn't name his car company after himself, therefore, resulting in a delay in Audi's birth, which proved to be insignificant.
However, being the independent man that he was, in 1899, 10 years before the Audi saga actually began, Horch left the automotive pioneer, Karl Benz, whom he was working for at the time, and founded his very own company, which he named 'Horch Motorwagen Werke.' Even though he knew better than to do so, Horch still went against his better judgment and decision-making by continuing to use his name to represent his company, and being the practical man that he was, after enduring a dramatic fall out with a few of his fellow board members, he immediately went out and founded, yet, another new car company; this time calling it 'Horch Automobilwerke.' Being that the old company still owned the rights to use his name, Horch had one of two choices to make; either shut down his new company and put himself out of business for good, or quickly come up with a fresh name for his company; particularly, one that didn't include the name, 'Horch!'
Needless to say, being that it's been well over 100 years in the making, August Horch opted to go with the latter decision, which was to create a completely new identity for his car company. In German, the name 'Horch' means 'hark,' hear' or 'listen,' and the Latin translation is what initially brought about what we know today as 'Audi!'
In 1929, during a global economic meltdown, and despite the split between Horch and his previous business partners, the 'Horch' and 'Audi' companies joined up together with motorcycle manufacturer, 'DKW,' as well as, 'Wanderer,' and formed a new organization known as 'Auto Union!' The four aforementioned name brands are proudly represented in the 'four-ring' badge in which the Audi car company still earnestly uses to this very day!
Audi earned its reputation for making solid, sensible cars which, at the time, were extremely popular and affordable for Germany's middle-class population. In the meantime and between time, Horch began to develop luxury model cars, such as the very first series-produced eight-cylinder car in the world. Initially, DKW was only a motorcycle manufacturer, but with the helpful expertise of Audi, DKW subsequently designed and created its own front-drive model car. With Wanderer, the organization's last addition, being a light-car manufacturer, all the needed pieces of a successful enterprise were merged together and, needless to say........the rest is HISTORY!
In 1990, Audi had five model lines; in 200, that number leaped up to seven; and by 2010, Audi will offer eleven unique model cars, so although the company once stared into the face of near-corporate death, its overall dedication, hard work, consistency, and persistence has allowed it to come out on top of things stronger than ever before, and survive for over 100 years. With that being said, I guess the old adage is true, which states, 'ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE!'
