The four ring emblem denotes the merger in 1932 of four previously independent motor vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer.
At the end of the 19th century, there were already a number of car manufacturers in Germany. One of them was August Horch & Cie., founded in 1899 in Cologne. Before setting up business on his own, August Horch worked for Carl Benz in Mannheim for three years as Head of Automobile Production.
August Horch left his company and started again in 1909. Unable to use his own name for reasons of fair trade, found a new one by translating his name into Latin. Audi Automobilwerke GmbH, Zwickau, started trading in 1910.
In 1885, the two mechanics Johann Baptist Winklhofer and Richard Adolf Jaenicke opened a repair business for bicycles in Chemnitz. Shortly afterwards they began to make bicycles of their own under the brand name Wanderer.
Wanderer built its first motorcycle in 1902 and then branched out into automobile production in 1913.
Jšrgen Skafte Rasmussen began to experiment with a steam-driven motor vehicle in 1916, registering DKW as a trademark. In 1919 the company, now renamed Zschopauer Motorenwerke, switched to the manufacture of small two-stroke engines, which, from 1922 on, were the basis for its success in building motorcycles under the brand name DKW. The first small DKW motor car appeared on the market in 1928.
On June 29, 1932, Audiwerke, Horchwerke and Zschopauer Motorenwerke - DKW merged on the initiative of the State Bank of Saxony to form Auto Union AG. A purchase and leasing agreement was concluded at the same time with Wanderer, for the takeover of its Automobile Division. The new company's head offices were in Chemnitz.
In 1945, after the end of the second world war, Auto Union AG was expropriated by the occupying Soviet forces. The company's leading figures consequently moved to Bavaria, where a new company was founded in Ingolstadt in 1949 under the name of Auto Union GmbH. A new model appeared on the market in 1965, the company's first post-war vehicle with a four-stroke engine. The traditional name of Audi was resurrected and in the same year Volkswagen Group bought the company.
Today, Audi is a leading international manufacturer of high-quality cars. In the year 2000 the company sold more than 650,000 Audi models, bringing in sales revenues of DM 39 billion. The Audi Group currently has more than 50,000 employees.
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