The original Audi company was founded in Zwickau, Germany, in 1909.
Engineer August Horch established the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH in Zwickau on 16 July 1909 after leaving his earlier Horch company. A legal dispute prevented him from continuing to use the Horch name for the new business. The Latin translation of “horch”—an imperative meaning “listen” or “hear”—became “Audi.” The Audi name was formally entered in Zwickau’s company register in 1910.
Zwickau was an important automotive centre in Saxony and remained central to Audi’s early history. The original Audi company later joined Horch, DKW and Wanderer in the 1932 formation of Auto Union, represented by the four interlinked rings. This history can cause confusion because Audi’s modern headquarters are in Ingolstadt, and the present Audi AG also traces important postwar developments to Neckarsulm. Those later locations do not change the founding city of the original Audi enterprise.