Who owns Audi? All information about the group

Who owns the German car manufacturer Audi is an exciting question. The company can look back on a long history. There have been frequent mergers with or takeovers by other companies. Today, Audi belongs to another well-known German group.

Who owns Audi – an overview

Audi is one of Germany’s well-known automobile brands.

• Audi belongs to the Volkswagen Group, just like Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, Ducati, Skoda, Seat, Cupra, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

• The Chairman of the Supervisory Board is Herbert Diess (as of 05/2022). He is also Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.

• Markus Duesmann has been Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG since 2020 (as of 05/2022).

• The headquarters of Audi AG is in Ingolstadt.

• In 2021, Audi AG had 85,750 employees, according to a survey.

The history of Audi

The Audi brand was not always part of the VW Group.

• August Horch founded the Audi brand in Zwickau in 1909. As he had already used his name for another company, but had already left it due to differences, he translated the name Horch into Latin (“Audi”).

• In 1932, Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer merged to form Auto Union AG. The logo was four intertwined rings, which you still know from Audi today.

• In 1939, Auto Union stopped producing civilian vehicles due to the Second World War. Instead, production was now for the war. After the end of the war, Auto Union AG was expropriated by the Soviet occupying power. In 1948, the company disappeared from the commercial register.

• In 1949, Auto Union GmbH was founded by former employees of Auto Union AG in Ingolstadt. The company is regarded as the predecessor of today’s Audi AG.

• In 1958 and 1959 Daimler-Benz gradually took over Auto Union GmbH.

• In 1964, Volkswagenwerke AG finally took over Auto Union GmbH from Daimler-Benz.

In 1969, Auto Union GmbH and NSU Motorenwerke merged. The result was Audi NSU Auto Union AG. In 1985, this became Audi AG.