Audi is known for their compelling commercials as well as their iconic 4-ring logo. As one of the 3 famous German luxury car-makers, along with BMW and Mercedes, Audi is known worldwide and has a loyal following of enthusiasts. But just like BMW, there are some really interesting facts in Audi's long history that you may not know. Here are the 10 best ones:
1) What does 'Audi' mean? - The name 'audi' has an interesting backstory. The founder of Audi's name is August Horch. "Horch" means "listen" in German. "Listen" translated into Latin becomes "audi."
2) What do the four rings of the Audi logo mean? - The four rings each represent the four companies that came together to form the Audi brand under the predecessor company, Auto Union. Contrary to popular belief, it has little to do with the Olympics.
3) Audi was the first German car company to produce a left-hand drive - In September 1921, Audi released the Audi Type K, which was the first production left-hand drive car made by a German manufacturer. Consequently, left-hand drive increased in popularity, becoming the standard in the 1920's.
4) After WW2 the company was essentially gutted by the Russians - After Germany's loss in World War 2, the car factories which had switched to military production during the war and were heavily bombed out were dismantled and expropriated without compensation. It was only from the scraps of what was left that Audi eventually reemerged.
5) Audi is owned by Volkswagen - While this may not be surprising to any German car enthusiasts, it wasn't until 1970 that Audi was introduced to the United States. Previously, the company (which was not known as Audi at the time) was also owned by Daimler-Benz.
6) Audi was the first company to carry out crash tests - In 1938, Audi performed some crash tests in order to figure out how the car would react in case of an accident. Inadvertently, they had set a precedent that still exists to this day.
7) The original RS models were partly developed by Porsche - Anyone following German car history notices quite a bit of inter-breeding among the manufacturers. The original Audi RS model, the 1994 RS2 was developed with the help of racing giant Porsche. It even had the Porsche logo on the brakes, grille, and tailgate.
8) The Olympics actually sued Audi for their logo - Due to the similarity of the four-ring Audi logo to the famous logo of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee actually sued Audi in 1995 over trademark infringement. They lost!
9) Audi is a sponsor of a very controversial sports team - In addition to sponsoring various soccer, skiing, and other sporting events across the world, Audi is the sponsor of a famous (and divisive) American sports team: the New York Yankees.
10) 'Quattro' was introduced to counteract a conservative image - Until the late 70's, Audi's image was relatively conservative, so they decided to liven it up by introducing an all-wheel drive rally car. The performance car, the "Audi Quattro" was introduced in 1980 and was incredibly successful in rallying, and influenced the brand's perception even to this day.
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