History and Table of Contents


Models Racing Special

There is possibly no other car company in Germany whose history is as tricky as Audi's. But it is not really that difficult:

  • 1885: Wanderer founded
  • 1899: Horch founded
  • 1907: DKW founded
  • 1909: Audi founded
  • 1932: The above metioned companies fused to Auto Union AG, four rings symbolizing then four brands
  • 1949: Changed to a GmbH (Limited Liability Company)
  • 1969: Purchase of the NSU Motorenwerke AG founded in 1873 as NSU. New name: Audi NSU Auto Union AG
  • 1985: Today's name: Audi AG

Before WW II
Irritation often circles around Audi and Horch. August Horch was the founder of Horch. In 1909 there were arguments in the company. Horch -slightly upset- left it and founded in the same year the A. Horch Motorenwerke AG. But the old company Horch had secured the rights on the name "Horch", resulting once again in problems. To avoid these, August Horch renamed his company in Audi, Latin for "Horch!" meaning "Listen!". The idea came from the son of a co-worker in a meeting.
Audi soon gained a reputation with its "Alpensieger" (meaning Winner in the Alps). These sportive cars were not only called this way. They truly lived up to their name. Even if Horch started out with little cars, today Horch is best-known for its huge straight eight-cylinders, giving ample power to elegant luxury cars.
1932, the fusion was a deep cut. Within three years, the program was completely restructured, resulting in a better use of resources (yes, even back then!), but still leaving the character of the different companys exist. That way, Horch established its role in the luxury market, while DKW became famous for its motorcycles. The most widely known "product", however, are for sure the "Silberpfeile" (meaning Silver Arrows). Powered by supercharged V16s they fought hard battles with the Mercedes Silberpfeilen.
(1)
On the right the Auto Union hillclimber, on the left the circuit racer.
Both were restored by Audi in painstaking work and now are in immaculate condition. Their worth cannot be estimated.

After WW II: Consolidation and management by Volkswagen
After the war, it was especially DKW with their 3=6 principle, that was productive for Auto Union.
In 1964/65 VW already owned 50,3 % of Auto Union. Under the management of VW, a four-stroke engine, developped at Mercedes during the short period Auto Union belonged to Mercedes was built into the DKW F 102. Its name: Audi, with no other extensions yet. The reason for this step was that the old two-stroke engines just didn't sell any longer. In the transition time until the Audi was introduced to the market, the VW Käfer (aka the Beetle) saved Audi, as it was partially built in Ingolstadt. Since 1966 Audi is a 100% daughter of VW. In 1969 NSU came to Auto Union. NSU is most widely known for its motorcycles, the Prinz (meaning Prince) and the misfortuned rotary engines, called Wankelmotor.
(1)
NSU was a pretty old company, having had success even before WWII. Some of their racers were converted to streamlined worldrecord racers, but not this one.
This Wankelmotor was a pain for the oldfashioned VW-guys. Sure, it did have its problems, but these resulted in the main part of a too fast introduction to the market. The high fuel consumption was not too important before the oil crisis in 73. However, later the decision against the Wankel should be considered right.
NSU had also developped a four door sedan without the rotary engine. As K70 it came to the VW line of products. Its fast end was caused by
  1. being progressive (ample room and a watercooled engine)
  2. that's about it really

VW said the reason was the high fuel consumption, well, you could have used another engine, but VW was at that time too fixed on air-cooled rear engines. Later, that should nearly break VW's neck. But this and much more you'll be able to read on this homepage:



Modelle
     New start
     Small
        50
        A3
        TT
        A2
     Medium: B
        B1
        B2
        B3
        B4
        B5
        B6
     Large: C
        C1
        C2
        C3
           Tuning
           Prototyp
           Rad & Reifen
        C4
        C5
     Luxury: D
        V8
        A8
     Concepts
        Auto 2000
        Al2
        Rosemeyer
        Steppenwolf
        Avantissimo
Racing
     Rallye
     Pikes Peak
     TransAm
     IMSA
     Talladega
     DTM
     STW
     DTM2000
     LeMans
     Others
        C3 French TM
        CNG A4
        C3 Nordschleife
        SCCA
        C3 Finnland
        C3 USA
        Belcar
        C4 Finnland
Spezial
     Your Audis
        1-100
        101-200
     My Audis
        Type44
        Type43
        Pics & Fun
     Special Audis
        Treser
           Liner
           Largo
           200
           5000
           4000
           Hunter Typ85
           Hunter Typ89
           Roadster
           Superpfeil
           Typ89
           Typ44
           T1 & T2
           Beutlich
        other companies
           ASC Convertible
           Typ44 Camper
           Typ43 Camper
           Quartz
           Robur
           Wüstenrenner
           200 Kombi
           UrQ Kombi
           V8 hearse
           C4 hearse
           Aztec
        Private
           V8 station wagon
           Bobtail
     Galleries
        from the net
        Steinhude C2
        Bochum B3/4
        Hann. Münden
        Oberhausen C3
        Speicher
           IMSA
           TransAm
           Sportquattro
           STW
           25V
        Angrillen C3
        Mainz 01 C3

     Links


Models Racing Special