Audi was originally formed in Germany in 1910, by August Horch. ("Audi" is the Latin version of his name, which means "hearken" in German.)

In 1932, it merged with three other German car companies to form Auto Union. (The four linked circles of the Audi logo symbolise this merger.) In 1963 the company was renamed Audi, and merged with Volkswagen to form "Volkswagen Audi Geselschaft" (VAG).

VAG also owns SEAT, and Skoda.