Audi was founded in 1909 in Zwickau, Germany, as the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH company. In 1910, the name changed to Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau. It wasn’t until 1932 that the Audi brand’s iconic four ring logo came about to symbolize Audi’s merger with three other German carmakers – DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. This merger formed Auto Union. After World War II, Auto Union moved to West Germany and chose Ingolstadt in Bavaria, which is still Audi’s hometown today. The other Auto Union brands gradually disappeared, but Audi remained and during the 1960s became part of the Volkswagen empire. Audi gained global recognition with its innovation of the Quattro all-wheel drive system and its success in the World Rally Championship in the 1980s. During the 1990s and 2000s, Audi’s luxury offerings established themselves as worthy rivals to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, while on track Audi prototypes dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans race with overall wins in 2000-02, 2004-08, and 2010-14. Today, Audi is still a top name in performance luxury cars that, along with its rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW, completes the “German Big Three.”