Audi Banned From Racing

German sport luxury brand Audi has played a powerful role in helping to shape shopper tastes and influence the complete ECU touring market. For nearly 100 years, the Audi brand has been synonymous with manufacturing high quality, reliable, and well engineered automobiles. An odd start almost scuttled the corporation's plans, yet today Audi has risen above trouble and is manufacturing vehicles that are world respected in quality and engineering.

August Horch founded Horch Automotive in Cologne, Germany in 1899, and commenced producing vehicles in 1901 which featured a horizontal engine producing upwards of five h.p. Demand for these models propelled Horch to grow production and move to a larger manufacturing facility where a newer, more powerful model pumping out a then-amazing ten hp was released.

By 1910, Horch himself was booted out of the company that sported his name so he set up shop somewhere else and began to sell autos under the Audi moniker. Originally, Horch tried to use his family name, but German courts ruled against him therefore the Audi name was selected instead. In German, Horch means "hark" and the word "audi" is the Latin translation of horch/hark. So, though he could legally no longer use his family name, the Latinized version of the same won out. Guess which name is understood today?

In between a pair of devastating world wars, the modern Audi company began to take shape. Indeed, the "four rings" logo of the company represents the union of 4 distinct German automotive makers under the auspices of Audi. Yes, you know it : the Horch company that originally booted Mr. Horch was absorbed by Audi and makes up one of the 4 rings. August Horch lived to see that massive day, but he also witnessed the dismantling of the company following the end of the second world war.

Reparations was the rallying cry when World War Two stopped, thus thus the Soviet Union who was occupying the eastern portion of Germany during the postwar era, appropriated the company, took all of its assets, and by August 1948 the company no longer existed. One year later thanks to state loans and Marshall plan help, a resurrected Audi was back on the scene producing a delivery van and a bike. Constant expansion across the 1950s highlighted by Daimler's acquisition of the company in 1958 fueled further enlargement. In 1964, the Volkswagen group acquired Audi from Daimler and to this day Audi remains a significant part of the Volkswagen establishment.

By the late 1960s, Audi began what many consider to be its significant run to the New models were developed many of which were also sold as Volkswagen models for that era. In 1980, Audi shook the automobile world to its foundation when it released its Quattro sports auto, a vehicle with full time all wheel drive and a turbocharged engine. Right away , the Quattro propelled the Audi name to the pinnacle of the race car world when the auto started to win race on race. Undeniably, the Quattro was such a runaway hit the model was prohibited from some races for having an "unfair" technological advantage.

Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Audi began to produce further models including its first premium model, the Audi V8 in 1988. Sporting a 3.6L 32-valve V8 engine, the Audi V8 featured full time all wheel drive and a 4 speed electronically controlled automated transmission. This model was a huge departure from earlier Audis and set the brand on a collision course with Mercedes and BMW, Germany's two other luxury brands in a bid for automotive supremacy.

Today, Audi continues to grow and compete against all the top luxury brands in the world. New technology including its Audi Space Frame all-aluminum body - known for its rigidity and improved crashworthiness - are among the highlights of a brand that does not accept second choice. From sedans to sport coupes to an all new SUV, Audi has a model that competes against the likes of Lexus, Mercedes, Cadillac, Infiniti, and BMW its chief competitors.

That "hark" sound you hear is both the name of a company and the attention the brand deserves in a sea of able premium models produced by Germany's esteemed Volkswagen Group. Yes, Audi has weathered several storms and the company appears poised to keep on its drive forward thanks to its many innovations and continued high quality.

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