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The company traces its origins back to 1899 and August Horch. The first Horch automobile was produced in 1901 in Zwickau. In 1910, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded. He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and a German court determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was forced to refrain from using his own family name in his new car business. As the word "horch!" translates to "hark!" in German, August Horch settled on the Latin equivalent of his name — "audi!". It is also popularly believed that Audi is an acronym which stands for "Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt". Audi produces over 2 million vehicles annually at its main production site in Ingolstadt. Audi has another production plant in Neckarsulm.

In 1932 Audi merged with Horch, DKW and Wanderer to form the Auto Union. Before World War II, Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, representing these four brands. This badge was used, however, only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch or Wanderer built engines. During World War II the Horch/Auto Union produced the Sd-Kfz 222 armored car, which was used in the German army during the war. It was powered by an 81 hp Horch/Auto Union V8 Engine which had a top speed of 50 miles per hour.

Another vehicle which was used in World War II to shuttle German military officials safely was known as the Kraftfahrzeug (KFZ 11) or the Horch Type 80. The military used it as a light transport vehicle.

The first Audi of the modern era was the Audi 100 of 1968. This was soon joined by the Audi 80/Fox (which formed the basis for the 1973 Volkswagen Passat) in 1972 and the Audi 50 (later, rebadged as the Volkswagen Polo) in 1974.

Currently, Audi's sales are growing strongly in Europe, and the company is still renowned for having among the best build quality of any mainstream auto manufacturer [citation needed]. 2004 marked the 11th straight increase in sales, selling 779,441 vehicles worldwide. Record figures were recorded from 21 out of about 50 major sales markets. The largest sales increases came from Eastern Europe (+19.3%), Africa (+17.2%) and the Middle East (+58.5%) [citation needed]. In March of 2005, Audi is building its first two dealerships in India following its high increase in sales in the region.

Audi has recently started offering a computerised control system for its cars called MMI (MultiMedia Interface). This comes amid criticism of BMW's iDrive control, essentially a rotating control knob designed to control radio, satellite navigation, tv, heating and car controls with a screen.

The MMI system is said to be much better, as it has a mass of buttons around a central knob, taking one to shortcuts like Radio, Nav, TV, Phone, Car, etc. The screen, either colour or monochrome, is mounted on the upright dashboard, and on the A6 and A8, the controls are mounted horizontally. However, MMI is also available on the Audi A3 and A4, in place of the stereo system, with relocated heater controls. (wiki)

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