72 Facts About Audi

The modern Audi era began in the 1960s, when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz.

In September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car, the Audi Type K, with left-handed drive.

In 1932, Audi merged with Horch, DKW, and Wanderer, to form Auto Union AG, Chemnitz.

The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch- or Wanderer-built engines.

Production of the Audi 100 had been steadily moved from Ingolstadt to Neckarsulm as the 1970s had progressed, and by the appearance of the second generation C2 version in 1976, all production was now at the former NSU plant.

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Audi image at this time was a conservative one, and so, a proposal from chassis engineer Jorg Bensinger was accepted to develop the four-wheel drive technology in Volkswagen's Iltis military vehicle for an Audi performance car and rally racing car.

Prominent wins proved the viability of all-wheel-drive racecars, and the Audi name became associated with advances in automotive technology.

In 1986, as the Passat-based Audi 80 was beginning to develop a kind of "grandfather's car" image, the type 89 was introduced.

Audi contended, prior to findings by outside investigators, that the problems were caused by driver error, specifically pedal misapplication.

Audi subsequently offered increased warranty protection and renamed the affected models – with the 5000 becoming the 100 and 200 in 1989 – and reached the same sales levels again only by model year 2000.

The Audi A2 was criticised for its high price and was never really a sales success but it planted Audi as a cutting-edge manufacturer.

The Audi Cabriolet continued on until 1999, gaining the engine upgrades along the way.

Audi's sales grew strongly in the 2000s, with deliveries to customers increasing from 653, 000 in 2000 to 1, 003, 000 in 2008.

In September 2012, Audi announced the construction of its first North American manufacturing plant in Puebla, Mexico.

Audi promised to quickly find a technical solution and upgrade the cars so they can function within emissions regulations.

In November 2016, Audi expressed an intention to establish an assembly factory in Pakistan, with the company's local partner acquiring land for a plant in Korangi Creek Industrial Park in Karachi.

Audi planned to cut 9, 500 jobs in Germany starting from 2020 till 2025 to fund electric vehicles and digital working.

In January 2021, Audi announced that it is planning to sell 1 million vehicles in China in 2023, comparing to 726, 000 vehicles in 2020.

Audi AI is a driver assist feature offered by Audi.

Audi's stated intent is to offer fully autonomous driving at a future time, acknowledging that legal, regulatory and technical hurdles must be overcome to achieve this goal.

Audi will be the first manufacturer to use a 3D Lidar system in addition to cameras and ultrasonic sensors for their AI.

Audi introduced a new series of vehicles in the mid-1990s and continues to pursue new technology and high performance.

Audi has recently applied the quattro badge to models such as the A3 and TT which do not use the Torsen-based system as in prior years with a mechanical center differential, but with the Haldex Traction electro-mechanical clutch AWD system.

The advantage of the W12 engine is its compact packaging, allowing Audi to build a 12-cylinder sedan with all-wheel drive, whereas a conventional V12 engine could have only a rear-wheel drive configuration as it would have no space in the engine bay for a differential and other components required to power the front wheels.

Since 2010, Audi has offered the LED technology in low- and high-beam headlights.

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Audi has assisted with technology to produce synthetic diesel from water and carbon dioxide.

Audi uses scanning gloves for parts registration during assembly, and automatic robots to transfer cars from factory to rail cars.

Audi is planning an alliance with the Japanese electronics giant Sanyo to develop a pilot hybrid electric project for the Volkswagen Group.

In 1980, Audi released the Quattro, a four-wheel drive turbocharged car that went on to win rallies and races worldwide.

In 1984, Audi launched the short-wheelbase Sport Quattro which dominated rally races in Monte Carlo and Sweden, with Audi taking all podium places, but succumbed to problems further into WRC contention.

Audi received rally honours in the Hong Kong to Beijing rally in that same year.

Michele Mouton, the only female driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship and a driver for Audi, took the Sport Quattro S1, now simply called the "S1", and raced in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

In 1986, Audi formally left international rally racing following an accident in Portugal involving driver Joaquim Santos in his Ford RS200.

In 1987, Walter Rohrl claimed the title for Audi setting a new Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record of 10:47.

In 1989, Audi moved to International Motor Sports Association GTO with the Audi 90, however as they avoided the two major endurance events (Daytona and Sebring) despite winning on a regular basis, they would lose out on the title.

In 1990, having completed their objective to market cars in North America, Audi returned to Europe, turning first to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft series with the Audi V8, and then in 1993, being unwilling to build cars for the new formula, they turned their attention to the fast-growing Super Touring series, which are a series of national championships.

Audi first entered in the French Supertourisme and Italian Superturismo.

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, having difficulty regulating the quattro four-wheel drive system, and the impact it had on the competitors, would eventually ban all four-wheel drive cars from competing in the series in 1998, but by then, Audi switched all their works efforts to sports car racing.

Namely, added ballast weights, and Champion Audi deciding to go with different tyres, and reducing the boost pressure of the turbocharger.

Audi began racing prototype sportscars in 1999, debuting at the Le Mans 24 hour.

The R8R scored a credible podium on its racing debut at Le Mans and was the concept which Audi continued to develop into the 2000 season due to favourable rules for open-cockpit prototypes.

Audi sold the car to customer teams such as Champion Racing.

In 2003, two Bentley Speed 8s, with engines designed by Audi, and driven by Joest drivers loaned to the fellow Volkswagen Group company, competed in the GTP class, and finished the race in the top two positions, while the Champion Racing R8 finished third overall, and first in the LMP900 class.

Audi had a win in the first diesel sports car at 12 Hours of Sebring.

Audi entered a factory racing team run by Joest Racing into the American Le Mans Series under the Audi Sport North America name in 2000.

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Factory-backed Audi R8s were the dominant car in ALMS taking 25 victories between 2000 and the end of the 2002 season.

In 2003, Audi sold customer cars to Champion Racing as well as continuing to race the factory Audi Sport North America team.

Since 2009 Audi has not taken part in full American Le Mans Series Championships, but has competed in the series opening races at Sebring, using the 12-hour race as a test for Le Mans, and as part of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season calendar.

Audi participated in the 2003 1000km of Le Mans which was a one-off sports car race in preparation for the 2004 European Le Mans Series.

However, Audi were able to secure the championship in 2008 even though Peugeot scored more race victories in the season.

Audi competed won the first WEC race at Sebring and followed this up with a further three successive wins, including the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Audi scored a final 5th victory in the 2012 WEC in Bahrain and were able to win the inaugural WEC Manufacturers' Championship.

Audi secured their second consecutive WEC Manufacturers' Championship at Round 6 after taking second place and half points in the red-flagged Fuji race.

Audi has been linked to Formula One in recent years but has always resisted due to the company's opinion that it is not relevant to road cars, but hybrid power unit technology has been adopted into the sport, swaying the company's view and encouraging research into the program by former Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali.

Audi announced in August 2022 that it would enter the Championship as an engine manufacturer in 2026.

Audi emblem is four overlapping rings that represent the four marques of Auto Union.

The ellipse was phased out after 1994, when Audi formed its own independent dealer network, and prominence was given back to the four rings – at the same time Audi Sans (a derivative of Univers) was adopted as the font for all marketing materials, corporate communications and was used in the vehicles themselves.

Audi developed a Corporate Sound concept, with Audi Sound Studio designed for producing the Corporate Sound.

Audi developed Sound Branding Toolkit including certain instruments, sound themes, rhythm and car sounds which all are supposed to reflect the AUDI sound character.

Audi started using a beating heart sound trademark beginning in 1996.

Since 2007, Audi has used the slogan Truth in Engineering in the U S However, since the Audi emissions testing scandal came to light in September 2015, this slogan was lambasted for being discordant with reality.

Audi Sans was originally created in 1997 by Ole Schafer for MetaDesign.

MetaDesign was later commissioned for a new corporate typeface called Audi Type, designed by Paul van der Laan and Pieter van Rosmalen of Bold Monday.

In sailing, Audi is engaged in the Medcup regatta and supports the team Luna Rossa during the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and is the primary sponsor of the Melges 20 sailboat.

Since the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Audi signed a deal to sponsor, promote and provide vehicles for several films.

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Several commercials were co-produced by Marvel and Audi to promote several new concepts and some of the latest vehicles such as the A8, SQ7 and the e-Tron fleet.

In 2001, Audi promoted the new multitronic continuously variable transmission with television commercials throughout Europe, featuring an impersonator of musician and actor Elvis Presley.

Audi has supported the European version of PlayStation Home, the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, by releasing a dedicated Home space.

Audi is the first carmaker to develop such a space for Home.

The Audi Vertical Run is where users can access the mini-game Vertical Run, a futuristic mini-game featuring Audi's e-tron concept.

Players collect energy and race for the highest possible speeds and the fastest players earn a place in the Audi apartments located in a large tower in the centre of the Audi Space.

Audi had stated that additional content would be added in 2010.