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With Support From Mercedes-Benz and New Engineering, Audi Rose Again in 1965 and Began Its Journey to the Top of the Automotive Industry
Six decades ago, Audi began a new phase in its history. On August 13, 1965, the first post-war car of the brand rolled off the assembly line in Ingolstadt, Germany. With a four-stroke engine, it marked not only the company’s recovery but also the beginning of a profound transformation in the German automotive industry.
Before that, the history of Audi was turbulent. Auto Union AG, which had been dismantled in Saxony after World War II, was rebuilt in 1949 by former employees under the name Auto Union GmbH.
The new company bet on the DKW brand, which had good results in the early years of German reconstruction. But time passed, and the two-stroke engines were left behind.
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The public, now with more purchasing power, wanted more modern cars. The DKW models began to lose ground.
The last model of the brand, the DKW F 102, despite having an advanced design for the time, did not please. The failure led Auto Union into a crisis.
The Turning Point
It was in this delicate moment that Daimler-Benz AG, the company that owns Mercedes-Benz, came into play. Between 1958 and 1964, it took control of Auto Union. And it was precisely during this management that a crucial decision changed the course of the company.
Daimler-Benz not only provided a new four-stroke engine but also sent one of its engineers to Ingolstadt.
Ludwig Kraus, an important name in German automotive engineering, was responsible for adapting this engine and putting the project into practice. With him, the F 103 was born, the first Audi with a four-stroke engine.
The name Audi, chosen for the model, was an attempt to distance itself from the image of the old DKW engines.
Interestingly, the name already existed before the war. It was only in 1985 that the company officially became Audi AG, two decades after the debut of the new model.
The success of the new Audi was immediate. The technical change helped to revive Auto Union and paved the way for new models.
There came the Audi 80, Audi Super 90, Audi 75, and the Audi 60. The latter was the best-selling and played a crucial role in consolidating the brand.
In 1972, the launch of the Audi 80 consolidated the company’s recovery. The model was so important that it returned the brand’s autonomy within the Volkswagen group, where it had been incorporated.
The most curious thing is that Mercedes-Benz, which would come to be one of Audi’s main rivals in the premium car segment, was the one that planted the seed of its turnaround.
A rivalry that was born from an unlikely technical and business assistance.
In Brazil, Audi officially arrived only in 1994. The importation was done by Ayrton Senna, who brought the Audi 80 and 100 models through Senna Import.
The driver died a month after the start of operations, and the company remained under family control until 2005, when Audi AG took over operations with the creation of Audi Brazil.
With information from NSC Total.
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