| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
AUDI AG is a German luxury automobile manufacturer based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany, a subsidiary of the VOLKSWAGEN GROUP since the 1960s. The brand is traced to a number of minor German automobile makers, but its name originates from a copyright dispute from the early twentieth century. In 1910, August Horch, formerly the founder of August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, established Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau when a court determined he could not use his own last name as a brand name, as it was still attached to the other company. Hence, the name was translated into Latin - audi, like horch, means listen. The current AUDI logo, the four intersecting wheels, is drawn from the logo of AUTO UNION, a consortium of four brands - AUDI, HORCH, DKW and WANDERER - established in 1932. Having lost its facilities in East Germany after World War II, AUTO UNION re-established itself, relocating to Ingolstadt. A proper revival for the brand occurred only after DAIMLER BENZ, owners of the revived AUTO UNION since the late 1950s, sold it to VOLKSWAGEN, which combined the brand with NSU to finally establish the AUDI of today.
AUDI has been a major player in racing since the inter-war period. In the 1930s, drivers such as Achille Verzi, Bernd Rosemeyer and Hans Stuck (father of fellow racer Hans-Joachim Stuck, who raced for AUDI in the 1990s and 2000s) scored multiple Grand Prix victories, with Rosemeyer winning the 1936 European Championship, in AUTO UNION cars, earning the brand the moniker of "Silver Arrow" (shared with contemporary MERCEDES-BENZ race cars). After the war, AUDI came back onto the racing scene with the introduction of Group B rules. Driven by the likes of Hannu Mikkola, Michèle Mouton, Stig Blomqvist and Walter Röhrl, AUDI QUATTRO won the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1982 and 1984. The car also collected a string of victories - and track records - in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb: Mouton in 1985, Bobby Unser in 1986 and Röhrl in 1987. In the early 1990s, AUDI developed a Group A variant of the AUDI V8, winning two championship titles in a row in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (1990 and 1991). The brand returned to the series, revived as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), in 2004, and went on to win eight Manufacturers' Championships (and 10 driver titles), most recently in 2020 (led by René Rast).
Perhaps most impressively, AUDI has racked up a stellar record in GT and prototype racing over the past two decades. The brand won 9 consecutive Manufacturers' Championships in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS; 2000-2008) with AUDI R8 and AUDI R10 TDI. The AUDI R8 prototype won the inaugural 2004 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and collected 5 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2000-2002, 2004-2005; the winning car in 2003, BENTLEY SPEED 8, was powered by an AUDI engine). Its successor, AUDI R10 TDI, won the ELMS as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008. Prior to its withdrawal from the LMP class in 2016, AUDI maintained its winning streak at Le Mans with the R15 TDI (2010) and R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (2011-2014) while collecting 2 back-to-back FIA World Endurance Championship titles (2012 and 2013). Meanwhile, the AUDI R8 V10 COUPE became the basis for a successful GT racer competing primarily in the GT3 and GT4 classes with considerable success, including five consecutive Teams' Championships in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (2011-2015), three Teams' Championships in the GT World Challenge Europe (2014-2015, 2020), three consecutive Manufacturers' Championships in the Intercontinental GT Challenge (2016-2018), and seven Teams' Championships in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup (2013-2018, 2020). Among its many trophies, AUDI R8 LMS has been the winning car in the Nürburgring 24 Hours (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022), the Spa 24 Hours endurance race (2011, 2012, 2014, 2017), the Bathurst 12 Hour race (2011, 2012, 2018) and the FIA GT World Cup at Macau (2011-2013, 2016). Together with Abt Sportsline, AUDI has also been involved in Formula E since its inception, earning the Teams' Championship in 2017-18 (Season 4).
Models
| Model | PR | Speed | Acc. | Brake | Grip | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
TT RS COUPE (2012) | 18.8 | 155 mph 249 kph |
4.10 s | 121.0 ft 36.9 m |
0.89 g | R 56,850(-11,370) |
 |
R8 V10 COUPE | 44.6 | 196 mph 315 kph |
3.90 s | 98.0 ft 29.9 m |
1.20 g | R187,300 (-37,460) |
 |
R8 LMS ULTRA | 50.5 | 196 mph 315 kph |
3.50 s | 101.0 ft 30.8 m |
1.30 g | R366,300 (-73,260) |
 |
TT RS COUPÉ (2019) | 40.0 | 174 mph 280 kph |
3.40 s | 100.0 ft 30.5 m |
1.01 g | G 340(-68) |
 |
R8 V10 SPYDER | 48.7 | 197 mph 317 kph |
3.50 s | 98.0 ft 29.9 m |
1.20 g | G250 (-50) |
 |
RS 5 COUPÉ | 33.3 | 174 mph 280 kph |
3.77 s | 107.0 ft 32.6 m |
0.98 g | G400
|
 |
RS 3 | 31.4 | 155 mph 249 kph |
3.67 s | 105.0 ft 32.0 m |
0.95 g | |
 |
E-TRON GT CONCEPT | 42.9 | 155 mph 249 kph |
3.20 s | 100.0 ft 30.5 m |
1.10 g | G600 (-120) |
 |
R8 LMS GT4 | 48.6 | 166 mph 267 kph |
4.10 s | 99.0 ft 30.2 m |
1.52 g | M 1,000,000
|
 |
R15 TDI | 73.3 | 180 mph 290 kph |
2.90 s | 87.0 ft 26.5 m |
1.74 g | M2,300,000
|
 |
R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (2015) | 90.6 | 235 mph 378 kph |
2.61 s | 84.0 ft 25.6 m |
2.10 g | G950
|
 |
R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (2014) | 89.9 | 234 mph 377 kph |
2.57 s | 84.0 ft 25.6 m |
1.90 g | R4,000,000
|
| TOTAL: | 12 | G2,302 R 4,488,360M 3,300,000
| |||||
Gallery
Groups and Series
AUDI cars feature in the following groups and series.
| Manufacturers (41) |
|---|
|
ACURA •
ALFA ROMEO •
APOLLO •
ARIEL •
ASTON MARTIN •
AUDI •
BENTLEY •
BMW •
BRABHAM •
BUGATTI •
CADILLAC
|
