August Horch
(12 October 1868 ? 3 February 1951) was a German
engineer
and
automobile
pioneer
, the founder of the manufacturing giant that eventually became
Audi
.
August Horch
|
---|
|
Born
| (
1868-10-12
)
12 October 1868
|
---|
Died
| 3 February 1951
(1951-02-03)
(aged?82)
|
---|
Known?for
| Founder of
Audi
and
Horch
|
---|
Horch was born in
Winningen
,
Rhenish Prussia
. His initial trade was as a blacksmith, and then was educated at
Hochschule Mittweida
(Mittweida Technical College). After receiving a degree in engineering, he worked in shipbuilding. Horch worked for
Karl Benz
from 1896, before founding
A. Horch & Co.
in November 1899, in
Ehrenfeld, Cologne
, Germany.
[1]
The first Horch automobile was built in 1901. The company moved to
Reichenbach
in 1902 and
Zwickau
in 1904. Horch left the company in 1909 after a dispute, and set up in competition in Zwickau. His new firm was initially called
Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH
, but following a legal dispute over the
Horch
name, he decided to make another automobile company. (The court decided that
Horch
was a registered trademark on behalf of August's former partners and August was not entitled to use it any more). Consequently, Horch named his new company
Audi Automobilwerke GmbH
in 1910,
Audi
being the Latinization of Horch.
Horch left Audi in 1920 and went to Berlin and took various jobs. He published his autobiography,
I Built Cars (
Ich Baute Autos
)
in 1937. He also served on the board of
Auto Union
, the successor to Audi Automobilwerke GmbH he founded. Horch remained an honorary executive at Auto Union during and after its reincorporation in
Ingolstadt
,
Bavaria
in the late 1940s until his death in 1951, ultimately not living to see the later resurrection of his Audi brand a decade later under the ownership of
Volkswagen
.
He was an honorary citizen of Zwickau and had a street named for his Audi cars in both Zwickau and his birthplace Winningen. He was made an honorary professor at
Braunschweig University of Technology
.
[1]
There is an
August Horchstrasse
(August Horch Street) at Audi's main manufacturing plant in Ingolstadt.
- ^
a
b
"Names Behind The Company: August Horch".
AutoWeek
: 19. November 30, 2009.