Audi is the car manufacturer headquartered in Ingolstadt, Germany. The city in Bavaria serves as Audi’s corporate headquarters and is also one of its most important production and engineering locations.
Audi’s modern identity grew from Auto Union, created in 1932 through the merger of four German automobile companies. The four interlocking rings in Audi’s logo represent those four original members: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. After World War II, Auto Union rebuilt its business in West Germany and was eventually absorbed into Volkswagen.
The Audi name returned to prominence in 1965 when Volkswagen acquired a stake in Auto Union. Volkswagen later combined Auto Union with NSU, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG in 1969; the company adopted the shorter Audi name in 1985.
Ingolstadt is sometimes confused with Stuttgart or Munich, both major German automotive centers. Stuttgart is associated with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, while Munich is associated with BMW. Audi’s headquarters and historic manufacturing base, by contrast, are in Ingolstadt, north of Munich.