The story behind Audi.
A German premium brand whose U.S. range includes passenger cars, SUVs and e-tron electric vehicles.
Four companies behind four rings
Audi’s roots extend through August Horch’s businesses and the wider Saxon motor industry. In June 1932, Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer’s automotive business came together as Auto Union. The interlocking rings represent those four participants, rather than four technologies or four markets.
Read the source ↗Wartime responsibility and a postwar restart
Auto Union produced armaments and used forced labor and concentration-camp prisoners under the Nazi regime. After the war, the company was re-established in Ingolstadt. A four-stroke model revived the Audi name in 1965; the 1969 NSU merger and later quattro technology helped shape its modern engineering identity.
Read the source ↗Rings for the electric era
The Q8 e-tron introduced newly styled physical rings with a two-dimensional appearance and contrasting black and white surfaces. The badge is chrome-free but still a physical object. Current U.S. families include conventional A and Q vehicles alongside Q4, Q6, A6 e-tron and e-tron GT.
Read the source ↗
