Crazy facts about Audi

Audi are a luxury car manufacturer that’s been producing some of the most forward thinking and technically advanced vehicles on the market for more than 100 years. Based in Germany their headquarters are responsible for producing a range to the UK market comprising of 50 different models of car. All Audi cars feature state-of-the-art technology and world-class quality from a proud German manufactured engine. Audi are not only famed for producing road cars, but they have a strong and successful history in racing too.

In this article, we’ll take you through some of the lesser known facts about Audi from the impressive to the downright crazy facts about Audi.

The Founder of Audi has a strong link to Mercedes

That’s right, Audi and Mercedes are known rivals in the luxury car market but they are very closely linked. Founder of Audi August Horch was a young German engineer who began working under Karl Benz. Karl Benz was the founder of Mercedes-Benz and after a three-year working relationship, August Horch began his own venture.

Audi was not the first car company that August Horch started

August Horch firstly founded car manufacturing company A. Horch and Cie in 1899. The Horch car company was actually very successful, winning multiple awards in Europe. Had it not have been for a disagreement with investors in 1909 then August Horch might not have decided to start a new company. Hence, Audi was born.

What does the name Audi mean

The Audi name came about as a result of legal issues when August Horch decided to form another company named August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH in 1899. This was the same time he parted ways from the vehicle manufacturer A. Horch and Cie. He was taken to court over copyright infringement issues and was asked to drop the ‘Horch’ from the new company name. The Latinization of Horch is Audi and the word Audi in Latin means ‘Listen’.

What does Audi’s 4 ring logo mean?

The iconic 4 ring logo of Audi has a much deeper meaning than just looking sleek and stylish. While the Horch automobile company and August Horch himself has a few issues in 1932 they mended the relationship in order to form the Autio Union. The union meant that each brand had a segment of the market to service. Horch took the market of high-end luxury cars, Audi for deluxe cars. The other two brands joining the union were Wanderer, who were to produce standard mid-size cars and DKW who opted for the small car and motorcycle market. The four ring logo was developed to represent the union of these four companies and it has become the iconic Audi logo we all know today.

Audi crash tests

Crash testing hasn’t always been fancy cameras and dummies. In fact, over 75 years ago Audi were considered revolutionary when they began to crash test their cars. In order to demonstrate the safety of their Audi F7 they rolled it down a hill. Hardly the safety checks we expect nowadays

Audi linked to Rally cars

In the 1980’s the World Rally Championship was contemplating integrating four-wheel-drive into race cars. At the same time, Audi released Quattro.The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car manufactured by Audi. Quattro changed the image of Audi and ensured it was respected as a capable SUV. Quattro received numerous rally wins in the years 1981 to 1986. The World Rally Championship took note and soon allowed all-wheel drive cars into racing.

Audi went on to win the driver’s championship in 1983 and 1984 plus the Pikes Peak Hill Climb from 1982 – 1987.

Audi at Le Mans

Audi and Le Mans go hand in hand. Le Mans is also known as ‘The 24 Hours of Le Mans‘ and is the world’s oldest active sports car race in endurance racing. Le Mans has been held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France. It is one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world and is often called the “Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency”. Audi has won the event 13 times overall. The majority of these wins were in the unrivalled gasoline R8 racer. Other manufacturers just couldn’t challenge the prowess of Audi in this type of race.

In 2006 Audi was the talk of the town again as it entered it’s turbocharged diesel V10 R10 TDI and won! In the 2012 race Audi went one step further and entered the R18 e-tron Quattro, a hybrid vehicle and still won the accolade.

Autonomous driving like no other

If you haven’t heard of Pikes Peak, it is a grueling and dangerous place to race. A bold and tough mountain emerging from the wreckage of many a race car which lie at the bottom. Autonomous driving technology is developing continually, however it is not even close to being market ready. Audi, however, decided to put their fully autonomous car names Shelly to the test. Amazingly Shelly and her high-tech GPC enabled Audi TTS technology managed to scale the mountain without a driver in just 19 minutes shy of the world record. Astonishing!

The autonomous Sally car was named after the first female World Rally Champion and Audi’s own rally driver Michele Mouton. Big up for the ladies!

Audi going ‘space age’

Google is running a pretty mega competition with a prize fund of $30 million called the Lunar XPRIZE. Scientists are invited to build a Lunar Rover that can drive on the surface of the moon for 500 metres. Not only that, the vehicle must also be capable of broadcasting HD (high definition) live feed from the surface. A pretty tall order, I mean, there’s no Wifi on the moon for a start!

Audi have taken on this challenge and partnered with a team of scientists in Germany to build a Lunar Rover for the competition. Their version will be powered by the famous Quattro and called the Audi Lunar Quattro.

Good Luck Audi, we hope you and your famous Quattro win!

In addition to all of these amazing crazy facts about Audi, there’s some more practical reasons why Audi are one of the UK’s most popular car brands. Audi are famed for the latest technology, super comfortable interiors and German precision manufacturing for an all-round immersive driving experience.One final crazy fact about Audi. You’ll never guess who drives one. Audi has an unlikely Superhero fan in the shape of super cool, tech obsessed Iron Man. Iron Man is a Marvel comic book character played by super cool Robert Downey Junior in the feature films. That’s right, Iron Man drives an Audi and you’re not going to argue with him are you!?