Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 119

116
THE BIRTH OF THE
AUDI BRAND
“Just as I thought, the Su-
pervisory Board pinned the
blame for our car’s failure
in the Prince Heinrich Tour
on me. It was a heated
meeting. I quickly ended
the discussion, left the room,
and stormed out onto the
factory yard.” On June 19,
1909, the brilliant automo-
tive engineer August Horch,
who learned his trade from
Carl Benz, left the company
he had founded, Horch-
Werke. By July 16, 1909, he
had set up a new company
in Zwickau: August Horch
Automobilwerke GmbH. To
his astonishment, his for-
mer company prohibited
him from continuing to use
the Horch name. The son of
his friend Franz Fikentscher
came up with the idea of
calling it Audi instead – a
simple translation of his
surname into Latin. And so
the Audi brand was born.
AUDI TYPE A
“I was the one who estab-
lished the car industry in
Saxony and took it to new
heights.” These words re-
flect the pride with which
August Horch built his vehi-
cles. Within a matter of
days of entering his new
company Audi Automobil-
werke mbH on the Commer-
cial Register on April 25,
1910, he unveiled the first
Audi model – the 10/22 hp,
also known as the Type A.
Its 2,612 cc four-cylinder
engine had an output of
22 hp at 1,800 rpm, pro-
pelling the 830 kilogram
phaeton to speeds of up to
75 km/h. Even though
Horch was a passionate ad-
vocate of participating in
major road reliability tests,
he didn’t believe the Type A
was ready for such rigors.
But his employees decided
to enter the car in the eight-
day trials in Sweden in spite
of this. The Type A won –
and the Audi legend began.
AUDI TYPE C
“I resolved to take part in
the competition. I did
everything in my power to
study all the difficulties in-
volved, to ensure that our
Audi cars would make it
through the next three-year
period.” Convinced by the
quality of his vehicles and
having taken his Audi to vic-
tory in the 1911 Alpine Run
of the K.K. Austrian Auto-
mobile Club, August Horch
ventured to take part in the
1912 to 1914 races with the
new Type C and its 35 hp,
3,560 cc four-cylinder
engine. It was the toughest
reliability test in the world:
a distance of well over
2,000 kilometers, including
almost all Alpine passes, in
the shortest possible time.
Furthermore, lead seals
were applied to every vehi-
cle so that no part could be
changed and an inspector
traveled in each car. By
1914, the Type C had three
wins to its name.
AUDI TYPE
ZWICKAU
Gradually, the Golden
Twenties began to lose
their sparkle, and the onset
of the Great Depression
confronted the automotive
industry with problems
that it simply could not
solve. Building luxury vehi-
cles was a capital-intensive
business – one that was only
possible with the backing
of major banks. The Dane
Jörgen Skafte Rasmussen,
who made his fortune with
the small DKW models,
pounced on an initiative
by the State Bank of
Saxony and, in 1928, Audi
was taken over by DKW.
Rasmussen believed Audi
had a future in the full-size
category. From the wreck-
age of the collapsed U.S.
motor company Ricken-
backer, he bought equip-
ment to build six- and
eight-cylinder engines.
The 5,130 cc, 100 hp eight-
cylinder engine was fitted
in the Type Zwickau – but
who, at that time, could
afford to spend 12,950
Reichsmarks on a Pullman
limousine? Audi’s next
eight-cylinder car didn’t
come along until 1988.
19 0 9
1910
1914
1929