Audi

Audi is a name that is associated with finely engineered German motorcars, and the company is in fact headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. Since 1964, Audi has been owned almost entirely by the Volkswagen Group.

The history of the Audi automobile dates back to the turn of the 20th century and a man named August Horch, who produced his first car in 1901.  However, he ran into some problems with his partners who claimed copyright infringement, and the court decreed that he could no longer use his own name on his cars. The word "horch" in German is translated as "audi" in Latin, and that is the origin of the name.

World War II devastated German manufacturing, but the factory that had previously produced the Audi resumed limited production in 1949. After a variety of mergers and acquisitions within the German automotive industry, the Audi brand re-emerged in its own right in 1968 with the Audi 100, followed by the Audi 80/Fox and the Audi 50, both of which became precursors to subsequent Volkswagen models.

Today, Audi seems to be standing on firm footing and sales are brisk, topping one million units in 2008, with the help of emerging markets in China, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.