1949 On September 3rd, New Automobile Alliance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "New Automobile Alliance") was established in Stat, Ingall. It is the predecessor of today's Audi automobile group, aiming at reviving the traditional foundation and brand established by the old automobile alliance company in Saxony.
When the new automobile alliance started its business, people's lives were generally difficult and they could only use economical and practical means of transportation. In the first few years, only dkw motorcycles and cars with two-stroke engines were produced in Staten, Ingall. 1949 the formal establishment of the new automobile alliance is actually the second step of the post-war revival of the old automobile alliance. The first step was to set up the Auto Union Parts Supply Center in Stat, Ingall after the "Zero" incident in June 1945+February19, which was responsible for supplying parts for all the pre-war vehicles produced by the old auto union that survived the war for six years. In the occupied western region, there are more than 6,000 such vehicles.
Why did the New Auto Alliance choose Staten and Ingall? Ingall is located in the center of Bavaria with convenient transportation, which is one of the reasons for choosing it as the spare parts supply center of automobile alliance. Statistics from the municipal authorities in Stated, Ingall show that the establishment of the center has promoted local employment. However, the key reason for rebuilding the automobile alliance in Staten is that Ingall is its century-old military "legacy" as a military center: vast land, countless barracks, garages, turrets and so on. These are priceless to a company that has no money to build a new factory.
Starting from the headquarters of the munitions supply station in Shilanen Street, the company gradually took over some buildings, such as "friedenskaserne", the new armory, the sergeant building, the vehicle hall, the armory, the riding training hall and the wide parade square. The company's facilities are distributed all over the city, so it is almost impossible to carry out regular and organized production. The workers laughed at this company as a "shack company". 1954 On August 9th, a general strike broke out in the metal processing industry in Bavaria, which is still fresh in the memory of many residents in Tatham, Ingalls. This is one of the earliest large-scale labor disputes in the young Federal Republic of Germany, and the companies in the metal processing industry call it "the most important event after the war".
At that time, the new automobile alliance had 5000 employees. As Stated, one of Ingall's largest manufacturers, many employees also threw away their production tools. Workers demand shorter working hours, higher wages and better working and living conditions. The strike lasted until August 3 1 954. Through arbitration, employers and employees reached an agreement and the strike in Bavaria ended. As a result of the strike, the workers' wages increased by a little more than 4%. Due to the strike in Bavaria, the New Auto Union spent an extra 920,000 Deutsche Mark. 1954 is the company's first profit year (about 400,000 DM). In the same year, Friedrich Flick, the major shareholder of the steel giant Eisenwerk-Gesellschaft Maximilian Shü tte Mbh Sulzbach-Rosenberg, acquired a part of the shares of Automobile Union AG. A few years ago, he realized that Ingall, a car manufacturer in Statham, would one day need a partner with a lot of money.
1957, flick suggested that Daimler-Benz merge with Auto Alliance AG. At that time, he owned 40% of the shares of the new automobile alliance and 25% of Daimler-Benz. His idea was supported by Swiss tycoon ernst ghner, who owns 4 1% of the shares of the new automobile alliance. Daimler-Benz accepted this proposal. Considering the increasing competitive pressure from abroad, Daimler-Benz wants to expand its shrinking market share by increasing product varieties. Fleek also hinted to Daimler-Benz that he was negotiating with Ford.
1On April 24th, 958, Daimler-Benz bought 88% of the shares of Auto Union with only 4 1 million marks. A year later, 1959, the remaining shares of the new automobile alliance were also sold to Daimler-Benz. Fritz k, spokesman of Daimler Management Committee? Neck summed up the merger of Germany's second-largest and fifth-largest automakers: "We married a beautiful family." On April 9th, 1958, handelsblatt wrote: "In terms of sales and taxes, this acquisition has an annual turnover of about 400 million German marks and 10000 employees, making Daimler-Benz once again the largest automobile manufacturer in the Federal Republic of Germany." When it was acquired by Daimler-Benz, only motorcycles and dkw express trucks were produced by the New Automobile Alliance in Statt, Ingol. The automobile assembly was concentrated in the factory in Dü sseldorf, and 1950 was put into production.
In order to obtain funds, the company postponed the production of low-priced small cars. This small car has been developed since the mid-1950s, and will be put on the market under the name of "dkw junior" in due course. Although the acquisition of Daimler-Benz ensured the funds needed to delay the project, the company still lacked the necessary production capacity.
Another reason for choosing Ingall Statt is that the operation of two-wheeled vehicles is facing paralysis: due to the sharp decline in motorcycle demand, the company plans to reduce the production of dkw motorcycles in a short time. Compared with zon, there were many skilled workers in Stat in Ingall in the late 1950s, which was one of the main factors for the company to decide to build a new factory here. 1959, the company invested 76 million DM here, 1960 added 510 million DM. Donaukurier, a local newspaper, commented on the new factory: "The largest and most modern automobile factory in Europe will be built near Staten, Ingall." 1at the end of 958, the new automobile alliance had 3,700 employees in Staten, Ingall; A year later, the number of employees increased to 5700. The establishment of the new factory not only dramatically increased the number of employees, but also prompted the New Automobile Alliance to move its production base to Stat, Ingall in 196 1, and also moved its headquarters to the city of 1962, which realized the rational allocation of the plan and reduced the cost. However, since 1962, at the peak of production and sales of the head office, the production and sales of the new automobile alliance have been sluggish.
Especially in 1964, the new automobile alliance faced a serious financial crisis. Although Daimler-Benz has a good reputation, its financial problems are difficult to solve because its subsidiaries can't cooperate happily with its parent company. So the new automobile alliance was resold to Volkswagen. This is an amazing business transaction. "friedrich flick, the largest shareholder of Daimler-Benz, spent more than a year designing, thinking and pondering the biggest corporate restructuring plan of his career," the news magazine Der Spiegel wrote in the 45th issue. According to the commentary, flick not only planned "1964' s biggest commercial activity", but also helped to list the details of the activity.
Starting from 1964, the ownership of the new automobile alliance was sold to Volkswagen in several stages. Volkswagen spent a total of 297 million German marks in this transaction. As of 1966, Volkswagen owns all the shares of the new automobile alliance. The new automobile alliance was acquired by Volkswagen and avoided bankruptcy. The once popular two-stroke engine came to an end, and about 30 thousand unsold dkw cars became garbage. At this time, Volkswagen's Beetle Series has become the savior of the new automobile alliance: from May 1965 to July 1969, about 348,000 Volkswagen Beetle Series cars were assembled in Statt, Ingall.
From August 1965, after Audi's new car went on the market, the new automobile alliance began to slowly get out of the predicament. This four-stroke engine car made in Statter, Ingall attracted great attention in the market and successfully laid the foundation for the new model series. However, the good times did not last long. /kloc-After the seemingly unimpeded economic recovery in 0/5 years, 1966 and 1967, Germany suddenly suffered from the Great Depression, and the new automobile alliance was hit hard, so it had to cut production a lot, and the speed was very fast.
1in March, 969, the new automobile alliance signed a merger agreement with nsu automobile company. The new company, Audi-Ensu Automobile Co., Ltd., was established in 1 969 65438+1October1with its headquarters in Kassoum. From the beginning, the company adopted a set of development and expansion policies, and the output of Audi and nsu cars increased steadily until the oil crisis of 1973. From 65438 to 0974, the global economic recession also had a negative impact on the automobile market, and the company had to cut its automobile production from 400,000 in the previous year to 330,000. Such a big move made it inevitable for the company to lay off a large number of employees: 1974, the total number of employees decreased from 33,800 to 28,600; In 1975, statistics alone showed that 1700 workers were unemployed. 1at the end of 975, the automobile industry began to pick up, which was reflected in the sales of Audi cars. 1March, 1977, the last nsu r80 car rolled off the assembly line, marking the completion of the mission of the nsu brand with a history of more than 100 years. Since then, all the cars produced in Kassoum are "Audi" brands.
1980, with exclusive Audi technology-quattro? The application of permanent four-wheel drive system, the first batch of full-time four-wheel drive caused a sensation. Subsequently, Audi tested the quattro by participating in racing activities. Performance of permanent four-wheel drive system. 1983, Hannu Mikkola became the world rally champion driving an Audi four-wheel drive car; 1984 Audi won the world championship of automobile manufacturers and drivers.
(Classic car: Audi quattro: the legendary classic of four-wheel drive: Audi four-wheel drive has brought a revolution in off-road vehicle racing. As early as 198 1, Audi first chose a four-wheel drive model to attack the world rally championship and won three championships. Only one year later, 1982, Audi quattro won the world brand championship again, and 1984 won the championship again. 1983, Hannu Mikkola (pictured) won the world championship with an Audi four-wheel drive, and Stig Blomkvist also won this honor in 1984. The application of all-wheel drive system in later series products has played an important role for Audi to rank among the top automobile manufacturers in the world. 1982, Audi set another record: the drag coefficient of the third generation Audi 100 racing car dropped to 0.30, making it the best aerodynamic car in the world. In the era of increasingly demanding environmental protection and energy saving, Audi has led the trend.
1 985 65438+1October1,Audi-Ensu Automobile Co., Ltd. was renamed as Audi Automobile Co., Ltd., and its registered address was moved from Inner Kassoum to Ingolstatten. In the mid-1980s, with the heated discussion about speed limit and exhaust emission reduction, Audi and other German automakers felt the market impact. From 65438 to 0985, domestic automobile sales decreased by 7.5% and exports increased by 9.4%.
From 65438 to 0985, Audi's total investment reached10 billion Deutsche Mark, the largest investment in the company's history, which was mainly used to improve production equipment and research and development of new technologies.
1988, Audi's first 3.5-liter v8 engine and four-valve luxury car, the V8 sedan, made its debut, marking Audi's return to the top luxury car market.
Audi's slogan is "breaking through technology and enlightening the future". This slogan is once again confirmed by tdi turbocharged diesel engine technology. The low fuel consumption of this technology is impressive. 1992, a standard Audi 80 TDI car traveled around the world with a journey of 40,273 kilometers, with an average fuel consumption of only 3.78 liters per 100 kilometers and an average speed of 85.8 kilometers per hour. The world market is relatively weak, but the collapse of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the unification of the German currency have promoted the demand in the German domestic market. 199 1 year, Audi's sales in the domestic market exceeded148 billion Deutsche Mark. But by 1993, this prosperity can only delay the recession trend of the German economy a few years ago.
At the Tokyo Motor Show in the autumn of 1993, Audi showed the world's first car with all-aluminum body frame structure (asf), announcing the beginning of a brand-new automobile era. 1March, 994, as an improved model of Audi v8, the all-aluminum Audi a8 made its first public appearance. With the appearance of Audi a8, Audi's naming of automobile series began to change. In the summer of the same year, Audi a6 went on the market, and in June of the same year, the new Audi a4 also went on the market. The brand-new Audi a4 was a great success: 1995 and120,000 vehicles were sold in Germany alone.
1in the autumn of 995, Audi showed another trump card-TT sports car. A year later, two compact Audi A3s went on the market, attracting more customers. 1997, Audi showed a brand-new Audi a6 and al2, both of which are all-aluminum body models manufactured according to the second generation asf technology. Audi tt coupé and roadster were put on the market in 1998 and 1999 respectively.
1998, Audi also successfully acquired Lamborghini, a famous Italian sports car manufacturer, and Cosworth, a British racing engine company. Audi also "won" the highest record of historical sales and profits during the centennial celebration of 1999. Audi, her ups and downs, heroes, reached an unprecedented peak. She has enough reason to convince the world that in the face of the future, Audi, a century-old automobile kingdom, will rewrite the immortal myth of 2 1 century with passion and vitality. Audi entered the new millennium with its attractive future-oriented models. In June 2000, Audi a2 was put on the market, which once again consolidated Audi's competitiveness in light aluminum body. In June of the same year, 5438+ 10, another flagship model of the company, Audi a8w 12, was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. The new Audi roadster and the new Audi a8, which were put on the market in 2002, highlight the sports characteristics of Audi cars, which is even more prominent in the Audi rs6 model.
The good news that Audi people should be proud of in the new Millennium has come. In the 24-hour car endurance race held in Le Mans, France on June 12, 2000, the first Audi R8 convertible won the third and fourth place, which proved the quality of Audi. The 24-hour car endurance race in Le Mans, France is called "the biggest race in Europe" and is a traditional long-distance race. It not only tests the driver's skills, but also has quite high performance requirements for racing cars equipped with modern high technology. The success of the first battle of Audi R8 once again proves to the world that Audi has been pursuing the promise of leading technology.
In 2003, Audi A4 and Audi A8 both beat the two main competitors in this class to win the championship in the "Best RV of 2003" selection activity organized by German automobile professional magazine "Automobile and Sport", and Audi A4 won the championship in succession. In April 2004, it was published by AutoStra &; Szlig in the "Autonis 2004" automobile design award jointly organized by enverkehr and its sister publication mot, Audi A8 and Audi A4 won the first place in this class respectively, and both won the championship for the second time. For the first time, the two brothers of the Audi family congratulated each other on the top of the mountain they climbed. In addition, the new Audi A8 also beat two main competitors in the "test comparison" of the top models conducted by Autozeitung and Auto Illustrated in Germany.