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MARCH 14, 2005
Big Turns in Audi's History 1899: Engineer August Horch founds A. Horch & Cie. at age 32 in Cologne. Horch presents his first car two years later 1909: Horch falls out with his board and starts another car company. Banned from using his own name again, he chooses Audi, the Latin translation for the word that means "hark!" in German 1932: The four Saxon motor-vehicle brands -- Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer -- merge, forming Auto Union AG, based in Chemnitz 1934: Auto Union's reputation soared on a successful racing car designed by Ferdinand Porsche. A 16-cylinder engine was installed behind the driver, boosting the vehicle's aerodynamics 1945: The Soviet military dismantles and expropriates Auto Union's plants in Saxony as war reparations 1949: Horch and his partners set up a new car company, Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt 1964: VW takes over Auto Union GmbH. The Audi brand is reintroduced a year later 1972: The Audi 80 becomes a smash hit, selling over a million cars within six years 1980: Audi Quattro, a sports coupe, becomes the first high-performance vehicle with four-wheel drive 1986-87: Audi is slammed in the U.S. by customer charges that unintended acceleration caused accidents 1988: The new premium Audi V8 (250 hp) throws down a gauntlet to Mercedes and BMW 1994: The launch of the first Audi A8 with an all-aluminium body, a first for a passenger car 1998: Audi TT coupe debuts 2002: Walter de Silva recruited to Audi as chief designer from Italy's Alfa Romeo 2002: Audi launches second-generation A8 luxury sedan, winning accolades as best car in class 2004: Redesigned Audi A6 debuts, a direct challenge to BMW's successful 5 Series Data: Company 
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