Audi's predecessor, Auto Union AG, was founded in 1932 by the merger of four independent automobile manufacturing companies: Old Audi, DKW, Hoshi and Rover. The four-ring logo represents these four companies. For today's Audi, they are the cornerstones. At the end of 19, some automobile manufacturers have appeared in Germany, one of which is Horsey Company, which was established in Cologne in October. Augustine Hodge was a pioneer in automobile engineering. Before starting his own company, he worked as the manager of automobile manufacturing department in karl benz Company in Mannheim for three years. 1904, auguse horch moved the company to Zwickau and turned it into a joint-stock company. 1909, August Horsey withdrew his shares from the company he founded and established a new company named "Audi". The Old Audi Company was founded by August Holsey in Zwickau on June 1909. At that time, in order to avoid infringement, the new company could no longer be named after Horsey. Holsey thought of the German meaning of its name "Listen!" The Latin equivalent is Audi, so the new company was named Audi. On April 25th, 2000, 1965438+Hoshi transformed the company into Audi Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. located in Zwickau. Rover Company 1885, two mechanics named John Baptiste Winkhoven and Richard Adolf Denike opened a bicycle repair shop in chemnitz. Soon, they saw that there was a great demand for bicycles, and they began to produce their own bicycles. The bicycle they produced was named "Rover". 1896, the company was renamed as "rover co., ltd". Rover Company manufactured the first motorcycle in 1902. Although the idea of building a car has a long history, it was not realized until 19 13, and its earlier two-person car was named "Puppchen", which opened a new era spanning decades. DKW Company DKW Company was established in 1902, formerly known as Rasmussen Ernst & Young Company. Ernst). 1907, the company moved to Zogbo in Erzgebirge area. Lesmussen and Ernst Company originally produced and sold tail gas separators, mudguards, lighting equipment, vulcanizing equipment and centrifugal separation equipment. Jorgen Scafe Lesmussen, the founder of the company, began to test a steam-driven car in 19 16, and registered the trademark of the car as "DKW". 19 19 changed its name to zobauer automobile co., ltd and turned to produce small two-stroke engines. Since 1922, the engine has been successfully installed on DKW cars. The first DKW car was put on the market in 1928. Auto Union AG (full name: Auto Union AG)1932 of Chemniss On June 29th, under the leadership of Saxony National Bank, Audi, Hoshi and DKW merged to form an automobile alliance. At the same time, they signed a purchase and lease contract with Rover, and incorporated the automobile department of Rover into the automobile alliance. The headquarters of the new company is located in Chemniss. After the merger, the automobile alliance became the second largest automobile manufacturer in Germany. The company's four-ring symbol symbolizes the sincere unity of the four founding companies. Their respective brand names-Audi, DKW, Star and Rover are reserved. Within the group, these four brands are positioned in four specific markets: DKW is responsible for motorcycles and small cars, Rover produces medium-sized cars, Audi produces high-end cars, and Hoshi produces top luxury cars. Auto Union GmbH in Stated, Ingall (full name: autounion limited) is 1945. After World War II, the automobile alliance was confiscated by the Soviet occupation forces, and the company elite moved to Bavaria. 1949, Ingolstadt of Ingall established a new automobile alliance to revive the endless tradition represented by the four-ring symbol. The first cars produced by the new factory are DKW's two-stroke motorcycles, small cars and minivans. 1965, the first four-stroke car produced by the new automobile alliance after the war was put on the market. In order to commemorate this historical moment, people painstakingly want to give a good name to the new product, so the traditional brand-"Audi" began to shine again. Soon, the last batch of DKW rolled off the assembly line in Staten, Ingall. After that, the company mainly produced four-stroke Audi. 1965, the new automobile alliance was acquired by Volkswagen, and a new era began. The NSU company NSU was founded on 1873 in Ridlingen on the Danube. The founders are two Swabian mechanics, one is Christine Schmidt and the other is Heinrich Steyr. Seven years later, the company moved to Neckarsulm. The company has been producing knitting machines for the first 20 years after its establishment. The company began to produce bicycles on 1886, and the production of bicycles played a decisive role in the later development of the enterprise. 190 1 year, NSU began to produce motorcycles, and five years later, it produced the first car. 1929 company stopped producing cars and concentrated on producing bicycles and motorcycles, and then resumed automobile production on 1958. 1969 March 10, the new automobile alliance merged with NSU automobile company. The new company is called Audi-Ensu Automobile Alliance Co., Ltd., and its headquarters is located in Inner Kassoum. The date of establishment of the company is 1+0. Audi AG's last NSU rolled off the assembly line in March 1977. After that, the company only produced Audi cars. At this time, the company's decision makers began to consider simplifying the company name. In order to make the company and product names consistent, the name of Audi -NSU Automobile Alliance Co., Ltd. is simplified to Audi AG in 1985. In the same year, the company's headquarters moved from Inner Kassoum to Staten in Ingol.