Technological Advancement
2009 is an extraordinary year for the German premium carmaker Audi. This year it celebrates its 100th birthday and what better way to celebrate it than to take a look at its rich and illustrious history. Malcolm Xavier Crasta reports from Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt

With “100 years of Audi on the Donauring” – Audi celebrated the brand’s centenary in Ingolstadt on July 18. On the historic circuit in the old town, almost every vehicle that bears witness to Audi’s historic racing successes was on view to the public, from the 1934 Auto Union Type A to the current R15 Le Mans entry. In the light of such a momentous event in Audi’s illustrious history, it is only right to hark back to the days of its creation and see just what made Audi what it is today.

Audi’s story starts with August Horch, born on October 12, 1868 in Winningen, Moselle. He studied in Mittweida and worked for Karl Benz from 1896, before founding A Horch & Cie in November 1899, in Cologne, Germany. The first car to bear his name saw the light of day in 1901. Later, the company moved to Reichenbach in 1902 and then to Zwickau in 1904. In 1909, a dispute within the company forced him to leave. In turn he decided to compete with his former colleagues by establishing another company in the very same place; he named it Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and a German court determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. Having been forced to look for a new name, he called for a meeting to come up with a new name for his company. It was decided that the Latin translation of his name would be used; hence Audi was finally founded in 1909. Horch was fascinated by motorsport and established the sporting reputation of his newly founded brand as early as 1914 with wins in the Alpine rally, the toughest reliability test of the day. Later, in 1920, Horch left Audi for a high position at the ministry of transport, but he was still involved with Audi as a member of the board of trustees. One year later, in September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car with left-hand drive, the Audi Type K. The logo with the four rings was adopted in 1932 with the fusion of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer.

Down memory lane
With the onset of World War II came the retooling of the Auto Union plants for military production. Soon after they were subjected to heavy bombing which lasted for the rest of the war, leaving them severely damaged. Over run by the Russian Army, in 1945, and on the orders of the Soviet Union military administration, they were dismantled as part of war reparations. This also included the expropriation of the company’s entire assets without compensation and the deletion of Auto Union AG from the commercial register, effectively liquidating the company on August 17, 1948. A reformed Auto Union was launched in Ingolstadt, Bavaria on September 3, 1949. From here on it was success after success and with the Volkswagen Group acquiring the factory in Ingolstadt and the trademark rights of the Auto Union, things could only get better.

The first ever production vehicle with four-wheel drive - The Quattro - was debuted in 1980 at the Geneva Motorshow with the Urquattro and soon celebrated legendary rally successes in the World Rally Championships. The success did not stop there: Pikes Peak, DTM and Le Mans all brought success, experience and passion to push innovation further. In 1989 Audi introduced turbo diesel direct injection, which even today remains ahead of its time. In the same year, where terms such as ‘greenhouse effect’ and ‘carbon footprints’ were still unheard of, Audi engineers developed the Audi Duo, the forerunner of hybrid technology featuring solar panels, a gasoline engine supported by a nine-kilowatt electric motor and nickel-cadmium batteries, that could be recharged either by the on-board generator or by a standard electricity socket. In 1994, Audi pioneered the Audi Space Frame, an aluminium frame structure and integrated panels that not only resulted in exceptional rigidity and high crash protection, but also substantially lower weight. In 2000, the Audi A2 capable of using only three litres of diesel over 100 kms was launched and in 2007 we saw the first vehicle with LED daytime running lights and headlights - the Audi R8. Over the past 100 years, Audi continually reinvented itself and built the basis for continued future success. “Vorsprung durch Technik” (Advancement through Technology in German) has become a way of life and the way into the future for Audi as one of the most established German automotive giants today.