There are roughly speaking two parts to the history of Audi: the early history and the modern era. Audi was formed by August Horch after he left the company that bore his name. Horch means Hark! which in Latin reads ‘Audi’.
In 1932 DKW, Wanderer, Horch and Audi joined forces to become Auto-Union. All four companies continued to produce cars under their own names until 1939. After the war, the former Audi factory in Zwickau (now in East Germany) restarted assembly of the pre-war models in 1949. They were renamed IFA. The factory in Zwickau manufactured the Trabant until closure in 1991.
Modern Era
Auto Union started up again in 1949, now based in Ingolstadt, building DKWs. In 1958 Daimler-Benz took over. In 1964 Volkswagen took a controlling interest in the company. Auto Union merged with NSU in 1969 to become Audi NSU Auto Union AG. The modern AUDI AG was formed in 1985.