The answer is the public.
On the one hand, Mercedes-Benz doesn't like this non-biological son and is eager to sell it, with low price and other preferential conditions (discussed below). On the other hand, after experiencing the stormy waves of being occupied by the Allies, returned to the German government and partially privatized, Volkswagen is full of energy and eager to expand, so the transaction between Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz is relatively smooth. 1965, the new automobile alliance became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen.
Audi returns to the center of the stage.
Careful riders may ask, where did Audi go? Yes, from the outbreak of the war to the time when Volkswagen bought the new automobile alliance from Mercedes-Benz for more than 20 years, Audi actually had no problem. The car of the new Automobile alliance was linked to auto in the early stage. The four-ring logo and DKW logo with the word "Lian" were later changed to the four-ring logo and Auto? Which is independently connected to the cover. United, Audi is almost a forgotten brand.
But things are different now. By letting the new automobile alliance factory OEM Beetle, Volkswagen is actively looking for a new direction for the new automobile alliance while ensuring profitability, paying workers' wages and maintaining the operation of the factory. The first thing to do is to stop loss in time. The frequent fuel consumption, exhaust gas and crankshaft failures of two-stroke engines have made people associate DKW with "bad", and the automobile alliance must draw a clear line with DKW brand.
So what brand should I use? The cunning Mercedes-Benz is afraid that competitors will deliberately keep the right to use Horsey brand. Since the old automobile alliance (1932), the rambler brand has been arguing for trademark rights for many times until the war broke out (because rambler only merged the automobile department into the automobile alliance in that year, and other departments still developed independently, so the trademark rights have been controversial). After the war, ramblers even started businesses in other directions. Therefore, only Audi and DKW are left in the hands of the new automobile alliance.
As a result, the Audi brand returned to the center of the stage. The first model is F 103, which is a modified version of F 102 which suffered a two-stroke engine crisis before. F 102 is the replacement model of the previous automobile alliance 1000, and 1963 just came into the market, but the two-stroke engine suffered from quality crisis. So Volkswagen installed the M 1 18 four-stroke four-cylinder engine transferred by Mercedes-Benz on F 102 to form a new car Audi F 103 for sale.
F 103 is divided into 60/72/75/80/90 types according to displacement (1.51.71.8) and power (55/72/75/80/90 horsepower). By the way, Germans are really bored in car naming. I don't know whether it is rigorous or plain. Car names are numbers and letters. Mercedes-Benz 180? 200? 300? BMW 1500? 1800? In 2002, Audi used to be ABCDEGKMRSTP. Unlike Americans, Britons and Italians, it can be called Mustang/El dorado/Silver. Ghost /Countach and other catchy names.
Klaus, the nobleman of Audi
F 103 is gradually recognized by the market because of its beautiful appearance and Mercedes-Benz engine, but in the office of the New Automobile Alliance (at this time Audi is only a brand, not a company name), a middle-aged man is plotting something big. ...
He is Ludwig Klaus, the technical director of the automobile alliance. Remember the generous conditions offered by Mercedes-Benz to the public mentioned above? One favorable condition is that Mercedes-Benz's M 1 18 engine is handed over to the Automobile Union, and another favorable condition is that Ludwig Klaus, an engineer who is still in Mercedes-Benz, resigned from Mercedes-Benz and joined the Automobile Union.
At that time, Mercedes-Benz did not feel that this engine and this engineer who was not an executive were reluctant conditions. It only thinks that it is enough to keep the Horsey brand, which can prevent latecomers from competing for luxury cars. However, later history proved that the automobile alliance without Horsey brand eventually entered the backyard of Mercedes-Benz with Audi brand, and one of the key figures in the growth of Audi brand was the engineer released by Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz must now regret the decision to create a tough competitor for itself. If it can cross back, Mercedes-Benz will definitely choose to keep Klaus as an excellent engineer.
Klaus helped the New Car Alliance to complete Audi F 103 (matching Mercedes-Benz engine with DKW body), but he was not complacent. He has a bigger ideal in mind-to develop a truly brand-new Audi, rather than this patchwork of compromise products. However, it is not for him to decide whether to develop new models. Volkswagen has very strict control over the new automobile alliance. To some extent, Volkswagen does not regard Audi as its own son. Audi is not allowed to own its own R&D fleet and R&D facilities, and everything is subject to the headquarters.
This is the same fate as Volkswagen's acquisition of NSU. It can only be a pawn of the headquarters and does not need independent business ideas. However, Klaus secretly developed a brand-new Audi F 104 on the basis of F 103 out of his insistence on the ideal of engineers. After the research and development was completed, Klaus felt uneasy. He didn't know whether to show the new car to the group leaders with flowers and applause or with stormy criticism and open orders. Fortunately, the group leader was silent for a long time after reading it. When Klaus was so nervous that he wanted to jump out of his throat, the group leader said "all right" coldly.
Klaus is very excited, which means that the new car in the name of modification has been approved. Thus, 1968, this Audi F 104 went on the market. The length of 4.6 meters, the power of 100 horsepower and the beautiful body make many people fall in love with this car instantly. The name of Audi 100 spread, and orders flew to Audi from all over the country (1969 company name was changed to Audi -NSU Automobile Alliance). Audi brand has also reached a higher level and entered Mercedes-Benz W 16544. By the time 1976 stopped production, the sales volume of Audi 100 had exceeded 800,000, which brought huge financial resources to Audi.
The success of Audi F 104 surprised the public management. The new Audi 80 (now the predecessor of A4) is also very competitive after the replacement, because of NSU? The financial crisis caused by the poor reliability of RO80 rotary engine disappointed the public management, so Audi brand was taken seriously, and Audi began to have its own R&D team, R&D facilities and independent sales network, and Audi began to flourish. Obviously, F 104 is a historic turning point for Audi, and this historic turning point is exactly what Klaus, a hero with the initial heart of an engineer, is seeking.
In this process (197 1 year), Audi brand shouted the well-known phrase "technological breakthrough? Enlighten the future ",and take the pursuit of advanced technology as the concept and direction of brand development (is it in sharp contrast with Toyota's concept of being conservative and not making mistakes? )。 "Breakthrough technology? Although the strategy of enlightening the future is good, how to land is also confusing.
At the same time, Audi, which has made great progress, is still far from luxury brands. Although F 104 has entered the administrative car camp, the driving form of the front drive and the strongest power of the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine are still short-boards, which are not comparable to the competitors with large displacement of six cylinders, and the brand influence is even worse than the ultra-luxury cars of Mercedes-Benz 300 and 600 and the flagship cars of V8 502 and 507. Therefore, the status and scale of Audi at that time were not the same as today's status.
The unexpected birth of quattro four-wheel drive
At this time, Audi's second nobleman appeared-ferdinand piech, the later chairman of Volkswagen Group, who was familiar to everyone. At that time, in order to avoid internal friction dragging down Porsche, the Porsche family collectively withdrew from the management of Porsche and hired professional managers. Ferdinand piech 1972 came to Audi, and he gradually replaced Klaus as the technical director of Audi.
Klaus went to Volkswagen headquarters, and after he went to Volkswagen, he promoted the platform operation of Volkswagen and Audi, such as Audi 80 and Passat * * * platforms, Audi 50 and POLO*** platforms, which made great contributions to the birth of golf and the revival of Volkswagen Group. Obviously, at this time, Audi (including Volkswagen) has been continuously improving and upgrading according to the previous DKW foundation, and both the product and brand positioning have been greatly improved, but the predecessor product system has been fixed.
Piech became famous at Porsche, and after coming to Audi, he continued to exert his engineering skills. In order to solve the shortage of Audi's large displacement engine, Piech led the R&D team to develop an in-line 5-cylinder engine for the second generation Audi 100, in which the maximum power of the 2. 1 liter supercharged version reached 170 horsepower, catching up with BMW 528 and Mercedes-Benz 280E.
On the other hand, engineers doing ice and snow tests in northern Europe found that Illtis off-road vehicles produced for the military actually run faster than cars on ice. He told Piech about this discovery, and when they discussed it, they came up with the idea of installing a four-wheel drive system on the car. So, Pihe, who has strong execution, came up with a full-time four-wheel drive solution for hollow transmission shaft and made a test car. The test vehicle climbed the steepest Alps in Europe (with a slope of 23%) even though there were no snow chains in the tires in summer, and the four-wheel drive test was successful.
As a result, another skill tree of Audi was lit up, that is, the quattro four-wheel drive that Audi is now proud of.
Subsequently, the Quattro sports car based on Audi 80 was put on the market (1980) and began to participate in WRC and other rally. At that time, the old-fashioned rally powerhouses, represented by the king Lanqiya, scoffed at this heavy four-wheel drive, but they soon found that the traction advantage of the four-wheel drive was terrible, especially the death group? B, Audi is as fast as Land Rover, and all the winners are soft.
Therefore, four-wheel drive has almost become synonymous with Audi, and Audi has gradually put four-wheel drive on most models of 100 and 80 series. By 1984, all Audi models can be equipped with quattro four-wheel drive system. At this time, Audi's competitiveness at the product and brand level has greatly increased, and Audi has tasted the sweetness of four-wheel drive.
1985, Audi NSU Automobile Alliance Company was renamed again-the new company was directly called "Audi Automobile Co., Ltd." and its headquarters moved back to Ingolstadt from Neckarsum. This is the beginning of today's narrow sense of Audi. The new company means that Audi has greater voice and prestige in the Volkswagen Group, more independent development, and even becomes the technical reserve pool of the Volkswagen Group.
Enter the d-class car market
Just as Klaus seeks greater development after the success of F 103, Piech is not complacent about the progress made by Audi at present, and he is also planning a bigger plan. 1988 (just one year before the birth of Lexus LS400), Audi released the shocking Audi V8. Audi surpassed the six-cylinder engine and entered the position of Mercedes-Benz S and BMW 7 Series with a 3.6-liter V8 engine and quattro four-wheel drive, which Mercedes-Benz, BMW and many fans did not expect.
Although the sales volume of Audi V8 is far less than that of S-class and 7-series, and it was criticized as not a pure luxury car because it was born on the platform of the third generation Audi 100, its birth was like a thunder, which let everyone know that Audi is bound to become a luxury brand on a par with Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and also let Audi see the hope and find that it is actually feasible to enter the luxury car field. Therefore, Audi did not overthrow everything and start all over again, but continued to give play to its advantages and stay ahead.
Six years later (1994), Audi A8, the successor of Audi V8, appeared. In addition to V8 engine and four-wheel drive, all-aluminum body and turbocharged direct injection diesel engine technology (TDI) make A8 family have greater competitiveness and wider scope of attack. DIA8 has been officially recognized. It is particularly worth mentioning that German Chancellor gerhard schroder also chose Audi A8 as the top car, which greatly enhanced Audi's brand image and consolidated its position in the luxury car field.
200 1, Audi A8 added a high-end version of the heart-6.0-liter W 12 engine. Since then, Audi A8 has never lost to Mercedes-Benz S and BMW 7 Series in terms of products (although it is not as prestigious as Mercedes-Benz S). At this time, Audi has recovered Horsey's trademark right from Mercedes-Benz. In theory, Audi can resurrect Horsey and rebuild a rear-drive luxury car, but at this time, Audi has no need to exist. Four-wheel drive luxury cars have been accepted by consumers, and Bentley has been pocketed by the public. Audi doesn't need to spend a lot of money to adapt to the front and rear drive routine. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz has also used 4Matic four-wheel drive in the S-class, and BMW, Jaguar and Lexus LS have also used four-wheel drive in the new millennium.
Today and tomorrow.
Therefore, Audi no longer has the burden of rear-wheel drive, even in the low-end A8 luxury car, it also uses the predecessor (not ashamed of money). Nowadays, Volkswagen Audi behind the "exhaust door" is obviously tightening its belt. The laid-off Bentley Mu Shang and the rumored Lamborghini are the most typical signals, and Audi will not spend a lot of money to develop rear-wheel drive.
As for the future, electric four-wheel drive (Tesla, Mercedes EQC, Jaguar I-Pace, Porsche Taycan, Ford Mach-E) will be used by all families in the electrification era. In the era of electrification, Audi's advantages in the traditional four-wheel drive have disappeared, and Audi is afraid that only the moat on the dynamic adjustment of the four-wheel drive chassis is left. Therefore, Audi will try its best to maintain the reputation of quattro four-wheel drive as a brand label. Of course, it is not excluded that the entry-level models are similar to Volkswagen.
Looking back on Audi's century-long history, it went bankrupt and reorganized many times, experienced World War I, Great Depression and World War II, was left out in the cold several times, and was cared for by the goddess of fate several times. Because I met DKW, I became attached to my predecessor, and because of the war, I missed the back drive; Take advantage of DKW to take off, but it is also trapped in the precursor product system; The four-wheel drive came early, and the surprises continued. After the establishment of the D-class car, it no longer cared about the rear drive. Whether you like the brand Audi or not, the story of Audi is really wonderful, and its strength and enterprising spirit are commendable.
Text || Monday to Monday
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