Audi

Audi AG ([ˈɑʊdɪ], audi in Latin - "listen" ) is a German automotive company within the Volkswagen Group, specializing in the production of cars under the Audi brand. The headquarters is located in the city of Ingolstadt (Germany). The motto is Vorsprung durch Technik (from German - "Progress through technology"). The volume of production in 2016 amounted to about 1,903,259 vehicles.

Audi in its current form is the heir to the Auto Union concern, formed as a result of the merger of four companies that produced cars and motorcycles under the brands DKW, Horch, Audi and Wanderer. As a result of the transformation, only the Audi trademark was retained. The first car of the Wanderer brand appeared in 1913, August Horch organized his first own enterprise (Horch & Co.) in 1899, and after creditors removed him from business, Audi Automobil-Werke was organized in 1909, which translates as "Audi Automobile Plant". And in 1910 the first car was produced.Translated from the German Horch (German Horch) means "listen." When choosing a name for the new brand, the son of one of Augustus' business partners suggested translating the founder's surname into Latin, that is, Audi - the imperative mood of the second person singular of the verb audire (translated from Latin - "listen")[3]. In 1921, the company made a breakthrough. This year, the first German car with a left-hand drive was produced. Prior to this, the company was engaged only in engines and suspensions, but now it has begun to pay attention to ease of operation. In 1928, the brand was bought out by the DKW motorcycle manufacturer, and in 1931 the front-wheel drive car debuted, the DKW F1.This was facilitated by the global economic crisis that began in 1929. The fact is that cars with a large engine capacity have ceased to be in demand due to the general lack of money. And then the head of Audi instructed to develop a compact car with front-wheel drive.

The impetus for the merger of the four carmakers came from the Saxony Municipal Bank, the creditor of all these companies.He feared for his investments in the automobile industry. On June 29, 1932, Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW merged to form Auto Union AG. The familiar four rings became its symbol. After such a merger, the company became the second automaker in Germany. The brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer did not compete with each other at all. The fact is that each brand was allocated a separate market segment: Audi was engaged in sports cars, DKW in motorcycles, Horch in large and richly finished cars, and Wanderer in the middle luxury segment. The company also participated in car racing. Over the years, Auto Union's Silver Arrow models have won numerous races and championships around the world. At the same time, a large number of world records were set. In 1940, the production of all civilian vehicles of the concern was curtailed, the factories of the association switched to the production of the Horch 901 staff car. Everyone knows that Audi's main competitors in the automotive market are Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the so-called "German Troika". Many people think that the advertising war began with a BMW poster in 2006, where BMW "nicely" congratulated Audi on winning the 2006 Car of the Year award in South Africa. But no, it all started back in the distant 80s, when Audi released a commercial where the Audi 200 winds eights around the Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse (W124) and BMW 5-series (E28)

Just a year later, BMW released a response video, demonstrating its new BMW 5-series (E34). There are three cars in the BMW commercial, all cars are covered with three canvases. The first car turned out to be a BMW 5-series, and the other two cars dissolved abruptly and the canvases with which they were covered fell to the ground, this was a hint to Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz decided to ignore the ads from Audi and BMW, not responding to them to this day. The advertising war between Audi and BMW continues to this day. Not so long ago, Lexus entered the advertising war. In the summer of 2016, Audi created an economical front-wheel drive version of the A4 ULTRA[17], which will be available in 2017. The car has a better performance[18][19] than the closest competitors BMW 320i, Mercedes-Benz C300 and Lexus IS 200t. Two-liter turbocharged engine with 190 hp. with. at a flow rate of 8.7 liters in urban mode and 6.4 on the highway.