 |
| August Horch |
August Horch (October 12, 1868 - February 3, 1951) was a German engineer and also a founder of the automotive company Audi. Horch was born in Winningen. Family background is a blacksmith, and he later attended the Hochschule Mittweida (Mittweida Technical College). After graduation became an engineer, he worked in the field of shipbuilding.
He also worked on Karl Benz from 1896, then founded his own company named A. Horch & Co. month of November 1899, in Ehrenfeld, Cologne, Germany. Audi AG is a German car manufacturers that sell cars in various classes and prices. The company is fully owned (99.5%) by the Volkswagen Group since 1966. Positioned as the luxury car class. The company is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. The company name is actually derived from the nickname of its founder August Horch, who has a sense of "hearing" and if translated into Latin, became Audi. Slogan Vorsprung durch Technik is Audi, which means "Excellence through technology". The largest owner of Audi AG is Volkswagen AG, which has a 99 percent stake in the company from 1966. Recently, the possibility is removed by the Volkswagen Audi has been debated. From 2002 to 2007, Audi's head of Audi Brand Group, a sub-division of the Volkswagen Group consists of Audi, SEAT and Lamborghini.
On 14 November 1899, August Horch (1868-1951) founded a company called A. Horch & Cie. in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, but because of a quarrel between him and the company's supervisory board, Horch had to resign. Several years later, Horch founded a second company called Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH in 1909. The first creation of Audi cars, Audi Type A 10-powered 22 hp Sport-Phaeton, produced in 1910 in Zwickau. The first of Horch cars made in 1901. After that, the company moved to Reichenbach in 1902 and Zwickau in Reference Biography: 1904. Horch left the company in 1909 after falling out with his old colleagues, and start a new business again in Zwickau. His new company called Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH, but because of a dispute it anyway so he may not use the name of the Horch again, and he was told to change the name of the company. Horch finally named his new company Audi Automobilwerke GmbH in 1910. Audi is the Latin translation of Horch. Also in 1909, Horch was forced out of the company he founded himself. Then he founded a new company in Zwickau again but kept the name of the Horch.
His old partners sued him for trademark infringement. German Supreme Court (Reichsgericht) finally decided that the Horch brand once owned by his company. August Horch was banned for using the family name for his new business. He also held a meeting with his business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher. In the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discuss what is the appropriate name for their new company. The story, while also gathering, Franz boys were learning Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he seemed to say seseatu but he continued to learn until it says: "My father-audiatur et Altera pars ... is not it better known than the audi just Horch!" ("Horch!" In German means listening to, and in Latin is "Audi".) Soon, the idea was enthusiastically received by all those who were there.
The first Audi car, Audi Type B, 10/28PS launched in 1910. August Horch left the company in 1920 because it was appointed Minister of Transport, but is still active in the company as a board of trustees. 1921, Audi became the first automotive company to launch a German version of the car in the left wheel. Horch left the Audi in 1920 and then went to Berlin to work on several fronts. He published his autobiography, entitled I Built Cars (Autos Baute Ich) in 1937. He also worked as a council in the Auto Union, the successor of the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH. He has also become respectable citizens of the town of Zwickau, and his name to a street in Zwickau and Winningen, his birthplace. He is also a distinguished professor at the Braunschweig University of Technology
