Audi AG is a luxury vehicle manufacturer based in Germany. It designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and distributes luxury vehicles. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. Audi automobiles are manufactured at nine factories across the world.

The company’s history is complicated, spanning the early twentieth century. A combination of three firms, Horch, DKW, and Wanderel, created Auto Union in 1932, the predecessor to modern-day Audi.

The contemporary history of Audi began in the 1960s when Volkswagen purchased Auto Union from Daimler-Benz. Volkswagen merged Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, forming the current structure of the corporation, after relaunching the Audi brand with the release of the Audi F103 series in 1965.

The company’s name is derived from the Latin translation of the founder’s surname, August Horch. In Latin, “Horch,” which means “listen,” becomes “Audi.” Each of the four rings in the Audi logo represents one of the four car firms merged to form Audi’s precursor, Auto Union. The slogan of Audi is “Vorsprung Durch Technik,” which translates to “Being Ahead Through Technology.” Audi, along with fellow German brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz, is one of the world’s best-selling luxury car brands.