The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States.
113-693: The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is the first generation of a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen . It was noteworthy for signalling Volkswagen's shift of its major car lines from rear-wheel drive and rear-mounted air-cooled engines to front-wheel drive with front-mounted , water-cooled engines that were often transversely-mounted . Successor to Volkswagen's Beetle , the first generation Golf debuted in Europe in May 1974 with styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro 's Italdesign . Volkswagen began producing prototypes of possible Beetle replacements as far back as
226-686: A rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with a water-cooled inline four cylinder engine laid over on its side and mounted longitudinally under the floor of the rear of the passenger compartment. In 1969, one year after the start of work at Volkswagen on the EA266, another project named EA337 was commissioned. This project would draw on engines and front-wheel drive technology from the Audi division of Auto Union. In 1966 Volkswagen built almost 1.5 million automobiles and reported net profits of DM 300,000,000. By 1967 domestic sales had fallen to 370,000 units from
339-461: A 2,612 cc inline-four engine model Type A, followed by a 3,564 cc model, as well as 4,680 cc and 5,720 cc models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. The first six-cylinder model Type M, 4,655 cc appeared in 1924. August Horch left the Audiwerke in 1920 for a high position at the ministry of transport, but he was still involved with Audi as a member of
452-406: A DM 200,000,000 loss. Rudolf Leiding replaced Lotz as Director General of Volkswagen from 1971 to 1975. Commenting on the situation at Volkswagen as he found it, Leiding said: "The global situation for VW was more critical than we had once thought – to put it simply, we were dealing with the survival of a giant group, which employed more than 220,000 people worldwide ..." Two weeks after assuming
565-400: A centre differential . Commonly referred to as the "Ur-Quattro" (the " Ur- " prefix is a German augmentative used, in this case, to mean 'original' and is also applied to the first generation of Audi's S4 and S6 Sport Saloons, as in "UrS4" and "UrS6"), few of these vehicles were produced (all hand-built by a single team), but the model was a great success in rallying. Prominent wins proved
678-532: A corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, "Father – audiatur et altera pars ... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead of horch ?". Horch in German means 'hark' or 'hear', which is audi in the singular imperative form of audire —'to listen'—in Latin. The idea
791-456: A design that reflected his signature "origami" or "folded-paper" style, emphasizing sharp corners and flat planes. Giugiaro would come to consider the Mk1 Golf the most important design of his career. Early prototypes included rectangular headlamps and wide tail-lamp assemblies. At least one pre-production car was modified with a sliding side door. During development, candidates for the name of
904-603: A device requiring the driver to press the brake pedal before shifting out of park. A legacy of the Audi 5000 and other reported cases of sudden unintended acceleration are intricate gear stick patterns and brake interlock mechanisms to prevent inadvertent shifting into forward or reverse. It is unclear how the defects in the idle-stabilization system were addressed. Audi's U.S. sales, which had reached 74,061 in 1985, dropped to 12,283 in 1991 and remained level for three years, —with resale values falling dramatically. Audi subsequently offered increased warranty protection and renamed
1017-538: A faster Golf. VW Press Department head Anton Konrad and VW engineer Alfons Löwenberg began development of a high-performance "Sport Golf" as a skunkworks project rather than as an official factory program. The two were joined by Gunter Kühl from the Press department, suspension expert Herbert Schuster, Hermann Hablitzel, who smuggled parts from the project into regular tests, Jürgen Adler, whose chassis analysis led to additional reinforcements, Horst-Dieter Schwittlinsky from
1130-599: A high of 600,000 units in 1965. A government-backed economic stimulus package was able to produce a rebound in sales. Beetle exports to the United States went from 232,550 in 1963 to 423,008 in 1968. Local competitors Ford-Werke and Opel launched new small car models (the Escort and Kadett , respectively) targeted directly at Volkswagen's traditional market. Volkswagen's share of the German domestic car market dropped from 45% in 1960 to 26% in 1972. Profits fell from
1243-560: A high of DM 330,000,000 in 1969 to DM 12,000,000 in 1971, mainly due to slumping Beetle sales and high R&D costs. In 1971 the United States' government ended international convertibility of the US dollar to gold in what is termed the Nixon shock . One outcome of this was that the Deutsche Mark rose 40% against the US dollar in 1971. This, combined with a 10% import duty on cars entering
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#17327804351241356-633: A large margin. According to 2011 sales, compact cars are currently the second segment in Europe after the subcompact one (which in Europe corresponds to A-segment + B-segment ), with approximately 3 million units sold. Because of the Volkswagen Golf 's definition and long standing dominance of this class it is often referred to as the "Golf segment" in much of Europe. Mainstream compact sedans began falling in popularity since 1990s, when Peugeot stopped production of 306 in 4-door saloon form, and also sharply declining since 2010s, as well as
1469-402: A length of approximately 4.5 metres (15 ft). As of 2021 C-segment category size span from approx. 4.2m to 4.6m Examples include Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Citroën C4, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, BMW 1 Series, Audi A3, Škoda Scala, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. The most common body styles for C-segment cars in Europe are hatchbacks , and much less sedans and wagons/estates . In 2020
1582-409: A problem when the brake pedal was pushed. Subsequent investigation revealed that 60 Minutes had engineered the failure—fitting a canister of compressed air on the passenger-side floor, linked via a hose to a hole drilled into the transmission. Audi contended, prior to findings by outside investigators, that the problems were caused by driver error, specifically pedal misapplication. Subsequently,
1695-578: A rebodied Beetle, it never went into production. The first EA47 prototype appeared in 1953; at least 11 more EA47 variations were built over the next three years. By the mid- to late-1950s, questions about the future of the Beetle began to be asked from outside the company. In 1957, an article with the title "Is the Volkswagen dated?" appeared in the West German magazine Stern . Two years later,
1808-608: A similar headline was used in an article in Der Spiegel weekly news. In 1958 Porsche began a project numbered 728 for a revised Beetle. A few years later this became the Volkswagen EA53. This project continued for a number of years and produced several prototypes, with early ones having bodywork designed by Porsche and later ones styled by Ghia . The EA53 eventually led to the Type 3 model. In 1957 another design study,
1921-524: A single-overhead camshaft driven by a timing belt. The early engines used 2 barrel Zenith carburetors. The 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre engines were from the original EA111 line. In this engine the valves were operated by rocker arms . The EA111 was mounted with a 20° forward tilt. The 1.5-litre, 1.6-litre and 1.8-litre engines were from the EA827 family. In this engine the valves were operated by bucket tappets. The EA827s were mounted tilted 15° rearwards. The car
2034-535: A state of the art factory for Auto Union's, the company's aging model range at this time did not benefit from the economic boom of the early 1960s to the same extent as competitor manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Opel . The decision to dispose of the Auto Union business was based on its lack of profitability. Ironically, by the time they sold the business, it also included a large new factory and near production-ready modern four-stroke engine, which would enable
2147-585: A study of their wartime activities. The investigation found that the company worked with the SS to build seven labor camps where more than 3,700 prisoners were put to work for Auto Union. In addition, 16,500 more people were forced to work at the company's factories in Zwickau and Chemnitz , and another 18,000 at an underground plant in Bavaria where 4,500 people died. Some of the company's factories were bombed by
2260-501: A subsidiary responsible for development and production of Audi high-performance models: the R8 and the RS model range. The new merged company was incorporated on 1 January 1969 and was known as Audi NSU Auto Union AG , with its headquarters at NSU's Neckarsulm plant, and saw the emergence of Audi as a separate brand for the first time since the pre-war era. Volkswagen introduced the Audi brand to
2373-603: A template for VW's new front-wheel-drive water-cooled range which debuted from the mid-1970s onward. In 1969, Auto Union merged with NSU , based in Neckarsulm , near Stuttgart . In the 1950s, NSU had been the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles, but had moved on to produce small cars like the NSU Prinz , the TT and TTS versions of which are still popular as vintage race cars. NSU then focused on new rotary engines based on
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#17327804351242486-666: A traditional saloon of this size though, with Volkswagen using the Golf as the base for its Jetta saloon, and Ford launching the Escort-based Orion in 1983. Also in the 1980s saloons became popular again in certain Western European markets, often with a different model name than the hatchback, for example the Renault 9 (Renault 11-based), Fiat Regata (Ritmo-based) and SEAT Málaga . Some carmakers later created
2599-449: A type of electronic throttle control . Significantly: multiple "intermittent malfunctions of the electronic control unit were observed and recorded ... and [were also observed and] reported by Transport Canada." With a series of recall campaigns, Audi made several modifications; the first adjusted the distance between the brake and accelerator pedal on automatic-transmission models. Later repairs, of 250,000 cars dating back to 1978, added
2712-576: Is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt , Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group , Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the company are complex, dating back to the early 20th century and the initial enterprises ( Horch and the Audiwerke ) founded by engineer August Horch . Two other manufacturers ( DKW and Wanderer ) also contributed to
2825-426: Is among the best-selling luxury automobile brands in the world. Automobile company Wanderer was originally established in 1885, later becoming a branch of Audi AG. Another company, NSU, which also later merged into Audi, was founded during this time, and later supplied the chassis for Gottlieb Daimler 's four-wheeler. On 14 November 1899, August Horch (1868–1951) established the company A. Horch & Cie. in
2938-600: Is because premium cars are included. From 2013–2018 premium cars had separate count, and are not included in mainstream total sales. Premium brands and models are marked italic . Electric cars are included in C-segment from 2020. year. 2019 – The compact car segment in Europe sees 5% fewer deliveries in 2019, as Europe’s #2 segment is down to 2.65 million sales, or 16.9% of the total European car market, down from 18% in 2018. 2020 – Sales of compact cars in Europe are down 24% to 2.03 million in 2020, perfectly in line with
3051-710: The Audi A4 replaced the Audi 80 . The new nomenclature scheme was applied to the Audi 100 to become the Audi A6 (with a minor facelift). This also meant the S4 became the S6 and a new S4 was introduced in the A4 body. The S2 was discontinued. The Audi Cabriolet continued on (based on the Audi 80 platform) until 1999, gaining the engine upgrades along the way. A new A3 hatchback model (sharing
3164-518: The Center for Auto Safety published "Small—on safety: the designed-in dangers of the Volkswagen", which examined the safety deficiencies of the Beetle just as Ralph Nader 's earlier book Unsafe at Any Speed had done for the Chevrolet Corvair . All of the foregoing combined to result in Volkswagen posting a DM 807,000,000 loss in 1974. In the same year Volkswagen of America alone posted
3277-877: The Ehrenfeld district of Cologne . In 1902, he moved with his company to Reichenbach im Vogtland . On 10 May 1904, he founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG , a joint-stock company in Zwickau (State of Saxony ). After troubles with Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH . His former partners sued him for trademark infringement. The German Reichsgericht (Supreme Court) in Leipzig , eventually determined that
3390-555: The Fiat 124 and Fiat 125 ) and Lada Samara (since 1984) were very popular in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. The modern-day Lada 's compact cars are Lada Priora and Lada Vesta . There was also the lineup of the AZLK -factory, Moskvitch (from 1947 to 2003): 400 , 402 , 408 , 412 , Izh 2125 (the first Soviet hatchback ), 2140 and Aleko . At the start of
3503-572: The Ford Escort , Vauxhall Viva , Austin Allegro and Hillman Avenger were still only available as saloons or estates, although some cars of this size, like the BMC/BL 1100 and 1300 saloons and Italy's Fiat 128 featured front-wheel drive from their launch during the 1960s. The C-segment was revolutionized in 1974 with the launch of the Volkswagen Golf , a front-wheel drive hatchback, which
Volkswagen Golf Mk1 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-561: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded that the majority of unintended acceleration cases, including all the ones that prompted the 60 Minutes report, were caused by driver error such as confusion of pedals. CBS did not acknowledge the test results of involved government agencies, but did acknowledge the similar results of another study. In a review study published in 2012, NHTSA summarized its past findings about
3729-470: The Volkswagen Golf Mk4 's platform) was introduced to the range in 1996, and the radical Audi TT coupé and roadster were debuted in 1998 based on the same underpinnings. The petrol engines available throughout the range were now a 1.4 L, 1.6 L and 1.8 L four-cylinder, 1.8 L four-cylinder turbo, 2.6 L and 2.8 L V6 , 2.2 L turbo-charged five-cylinder and
3842-619: The Volkswagen Polo ) in 1974. The Audi 50 was a seminal design because it was the first incarnation of the Golf/Polo concept, one that led to a hugely successful world car. Ultimately, the Audi 80 and 100 (progenitors of the A4 and A6 , respectively) became the company's biggest sellers, whilst little investment was made in the fading NSU range; the Prinz models were dropped in 1973 whilst
3955-642: The liftback bodystyle like the Peugeot 309 , which replaced the Talbot Horizon in this sector at the end of 1985. Since the mid-1990s, premium brands usually associated with larger and more expensive cars have entered the C-segment with more affordable hatchbacks and saloons. The first such example was the Audi A3 in 1996. Subsequent cars of this type include the BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class . In
4068-546: The 1960s, the post war economic boom had produced customers who wanted something of intermediate size. These were usually saloons during the 1950s and 1960s. The world's first hatchback , the 1958 FR layout Austin A40 Farina Countryman model that was a co-development of BMC and the Italian design house Pininfarina at a time when this was unusual. It had a lift up rear window and drop down boot lid. It
4181-617: The 1970 GS, Peugeot 304 and Renault 14 . During 1980s, Citroën replaced the GSA with the 1983 BX that was between the sizes of the small family car and large family car, in an attempt to cover both markets with single model. The Citroën ZX was the model which celebrated the entry of PSA Group (now Stellantis) in China during early 1990s. Cars of the Soviet/Russian brand Lada : VAZ-2101 , VAZ-2103 , VAZ-2106 , Lada Riva (based on
4294-582: The 1970s, the two most popular sectors of the UK market were small family cars and large family cars . From its launch in 1962, the BMC 1100/1300 was often Britain's best selling car; other locally produced compact cars included the Ford Escort , Vauxhall Viva and Hillman Avenger . Imported small family cars that were popular in the UK included the Citroën GS and Datsun Sunny 120Y . British Leyland replaced
4407-611: The 1975 sales year it was the 14th best selling car in Britain with more than 19,000 units sold. In 1981 the facelifted Golf GTI was voted Car of the Year by What Car? magazine, ahead of all-new models like the Austin Metro and MK3 Ford Escort . In its final sales year of 1983 it sold more than 25,000 units and was Britain's 14th best selling car despite being almost 10 years old. Air conditioning became available as an option on
4520-419: The 1st decade of 21st century, coupé convertibles (cabriolets) with components from these vehicles were being also built. Examples of this are the Peugeot 307 CC and later 308 CC in the first generation, third-generation Opel Astra TwinTop , second generation Ford Focus Coupe-Convertible , and Volkswagen Eos . Early successful compact family cars by French manufacturers are Citroën GS A hatch version of
4633-521: The 4.2 L V8 engine . The V6s were replaced by new 2.4 L and 2.8 L 30V V6s in 1998, with marked improvement in power, torque and smoothness. Further engines were added along the way, including a 3.7 L V8 and 6.0 L W12 engine for the A8. Audi's sales grew strongly in the 2000s, with deliveries to customers increasing from 653,000 in 2000 to 1,003,000 in 2008. The largest sales increases came from Eastern Europe (+19.3%), Africa (+17.2%) and
Volkswagen Golf Mk1 - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-559: The Allies . With no prospect of continuing production in Soviet-controlled East Germany, Auto Union executives began the process of relocating what was left of the company to West Germany . A site was chosen in Ingolstadt , Bavaria , to start a spare parts operation in late 1945, which would eventually serve as the headquarters of the reformed Auto Union in 1949. On 17 August 1948, Auto Union AG of Chemnitz
4859-632: The Audi 60, 75, 80, and Super 90, selling until 1972. Initially, Volkswagen was hostile to the idea of Auto Union as a standalone entity producing its own models having acquired the company merely to boost its own production capacity through the Ingolstadt assembly plant—to the point where Volkswagen executives ordered that the Auto Union name and flags bearing the four rings were removed from the factory buildings. Then VW chief Heinz Nordhoff explicitly forbade Auto Union from any further product development. Fearing that Volkswagen had no long-term ambition for
4972-465: The Audi brand, Auto Union engineers under the leadership of Ludwig Kraus developed the first Audi 100 in secret, without Nordhoff's knowledge. When presented with a finished prototype, Nordhoff was so impressed he authorised the car for production, which when launched in 1968, went on to be a huge success. With this, the resurrection of the Audi brand was now complete, this being followed by the first generation Audi 80 in 1972, which would in turn provide
5085-421: The Audi unintended acceleration problems: "Once an unintended acceleration had begun, in the Audi 5000, due to a failure in the idle-stabilizer system (producing an initial acceleration of 0.3g), pedal misapplication resulting from panic, confusion, or unfamiliarity with the Audi 5000 contributed to the severity of the incident." This summary is consistent with the conclusions of NHTSA's most technical analysis at
5198-484: The Auto Union business, under a new owner, to embark on a period of profitable growth, now producing not Auto Unions or DKWs, but using the "Audi" name, resurrected in 1965 after a 25-year gap. In 1964, Volkswagen acquired a 50% holding in the business, which included the new factory in Ingolstadt, the DKW and Audi brands along with the rights to the new engine design which had been funded by Daimler-Benz, who in return retained
5311-596: The BMC 1100/1300 with a variety of models: the 1969 Austin Maxi , the 1971 Morris Marina , and the 1973 Austin Allegro . A second-generation Ford Escort (jointly designed in Britain and Germany) was released in 1974. The same year, the German Volkswagen Golf front-wheel-drive hatchback was released, becoming one of the first significantly-imported small family cars in the UK market. The sporty "GTI" version of
5424-634: The Beetle accelerated. Under Lotz Volkswagen acquired control of NSU in 1969. NSU was subsequently merged into the Auto Union group, which was now undergoing a renaissance under the relaunched Audi brand. One outcome of this acquisition was that the mid-sized front-wheel drive car that had been under development at NSU would reach the market, not as an NSU, but as the Volkswagen K70 . In 1968 another development project started named EA266. This project originated with Porsche, where it began as an internal project as early as 1966. This unusual design used
5537-563: The EA97, was started. This exercise was larger than the Beetle, but kept the usual rear-mounted powertrain. Two hundred instances of this design were built. Styling varied, depending on whether a particular car's bodywork was done by VW or by Ghia. Some cars’ looks echo the later Type 3 cars, although the EA97 was smaller. The last EA97 was built in 1960. The EA97 would provide the basis for the Brasília model from Volkswagen do Brasil . The EA158
5650-734: The European version of the Escort was replaced by the global Ford Focus MkI model. General Motors released the Vauxhall Astra Mk3 update in 1991 and the all-new Astra Mk4 in 1998. Rover Group introduced the Rover 200 Mk2 in 1989. The Rover 200 Mk3 was introduced in 1995, replacing the Honda Concerto-based Mk2 with a UK-designed car. Audi Audi AG ( German: [ˈaʊ̯di ʔaːˈɡeː] )
5763-456: The German car market, while Audi held only 0.1%. After the final few Audis were delivered in 1939 the "Audi" name disappeared completely from the new car market for more than two decades. Richard Bruhn , a Nazi party member, was Auto Union's chairman of the board from 1932 to 1945 and then again after the war when the company was reestablished. In 2014 Audi became the last major German car company, after Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, to commission
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#17327804351245876-680: The Golf sparked a huge demand for "hot hatches" in the UK and many other countries. The third-generation Vauxhall Viva was produced until late 1979, when it was replaced by the Vauxhall Astra (a rebadged Opel Kadett D which was initially produced in West Germany and Belgium). The Astra was part of a late-1970s transition in small family cars from being predominantly rear-wheel-drive saloons , to becoming front-wheel-drive hatchbacks (by then increasingly popular in mainland Europe). The Austin Allegro – introduced five years earlier –
5989-451: The Horch brand belonged to his former company. Since August Horch was prohibited from using horch as a trade name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting, Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in
6102-660: The Illinois state and U.S. federal levels. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Audi introduced new technologies including the use of aluminium construction. Produced from 1999 to 2005, the Audi A2 was a futuristic super mini, born from the Al2 concept, with many features that helped regain consumer confidence, like the aluminium space frame , which was a first in production car design. In the A2 Audi further expanded their TDI technology through
6215-407: The Ingolstadt head office site. In 1958, in response to pressure from Friedrich Flick , then the company's largest single shareholder, Daimler-Benz took an 87% holding in the Auto Union company, and this was increased to a 100% holding in 1959. However, small two-stroke cars were not the focus of Daimler-Benz's interests, and while the early 1960s saw major investment in new Mercedes models and in
6328-467: The Middle East (+58.5%). China in particular has become a key market, representing 108,000 out of 705,000 cars delivered in the first three quarters of 2009. One factor for its popularity in China is that Audis have become the car of choice for purchase by the Chinese government for officials, and purchases by the government are responsible for 20% of its sales in China. As of late 2009, Audi's operating profit of €1.17 billion ($ 1.85 billion) made it
6441-400: The UK was the 1981 Triumph Acclaim , a licensed version of the four-door Honda Ballade with a Honda-designed engine. The Acclaim was replaced in 1984 by the Rover 200 . In late 1985 the Peugeot 309 became the first Peugeot to be built in the UK at the Ryton plant . Ford began the 1990s by replacing its 10-year-old Escort (and the Orion saloon version) with the Ford Escort MkV . In 1998,
6554-472: The US, caused Beetle sales to plummet in what had become a critical market for Volkswagen. In 1973 the OPEC oil crisis hit, triggering a global recession. The German government responded with emergency measures banning private car use on certain days of the week and comprehensive speed limits. In 1972 Opel's share of the German market rose to 20.4%, making them Germany's largest automobile manufacturer and overtaking Volkswagen in their domestic market. In 1972
6667-492: The United States fell after a series of recalls from 1982 to 1987 of Audi 5000 models associated with reported incidents of sudden unintended acceleration linked to six deaths and 700 accidents. At the time, NHTSA was investigating 50 car models from 20 manufacturers for sudden surges of power. A 60 Minutes report aired 23 November 1986, featuring interviews with six people who had sued Audi after reporting unintended acceleration, showing an Audi 5000 ostensibly suffering
6780-429: The United States for the 1970 model year. That same year, the mid-sized car that NSU had been working on, the K70 , originally intended to slot between the rear-engined Prinz models and the futuristic NSU Ro 80 , was instead launched as a Volkswagen. After the launch of the Audi 100 of 1968, the Audi 80 /Fox (which formed the basis for the 1973 Volkswagen Passat ) followed in 1972 and the Audi 50 (later rebadged as
6893-514: The West German versions. West and East German models were equipped with the traditional and renowned DKW two-stroke engines. The Zwickau plant later manufactured the infamous Trabant until 1991, after it was acquired by the Volkswagen Group following the reunification of Germany, and has since been substantially rebuilt. In 2021, production of the Audi Q4 e-tron began at the plant, marking the return of Audis being manufactured at Zwickau after over 80 years. A new West German headquartered Auto Union
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#17327804351247006-432: The affected models—with the 5000 becoming the 100 and 200 in 1989 —and reached the same sales levels again only by model year 2000. A 2010 BusinessWeek article—outlining possible parallels between Audi's experience and 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls —noted a class-action lawsuit filed in 1987 by about 7,500 Audi 5000-model owners remains unsettled and remains contested in Chicago 's Cook County after appeals at
7119-453: The biggest contributor to parent Volkswagen Group's nine-month operating profit of €1.5 billion, while the other marques in Group such as Bentley and SEAT had suffered considerable losses. May 2011 saw record sales for Audi of America with the new Audi A7 and Audi A3 TDI Clean Diesel. In May 2012, Audi reported a 10% increase in its sales—from 408 units to 480 in the last year alone. Audi manufactures vehicles in seven plants around
7232-418: The board of trustees. In September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car, the Audi Type K, with left-handed drive. Left-hand drive spread and established dominance during the 1920s because it provided a better view of oncoming traffic, making overtaking safer when driving on the right. In August 1928, Jørgen Rasmussen , the owner of Dampf-Kraft-Wagen (DKW), acquired
7345-417: The directorship, Leiding stopped work on the Porsche-designed EA266 and ordered all but two of the 50 prototypes built to that point to be disassembled. In 1969 Lotz and Italian Volkswagen importer Gerhard R. Gumpert visited the Turin Auto Show . After selecting their six favourite cars of the show, they discovered that four of the six were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his Italdesign studio. Giugiaro
7458-404: The domestic market in August 1975. The ability to retrofit the system, together with installing a larger battery, was offered to owners of existing cars. In December 1975 a minor styling revision deleted the Swallowtail line on the rear hatch, replacing it with a simple straight horizontal body-line. The bonnet also received a transverse line connecting the two raised sides across the front edge of
7571-399: The dormant Horch trademark and the Düsseldorf factory which became a Mercedes-Benz van assembly plant. Eighteen months later, Volkswagen bought complete control of Ingolstadt, and by 1966 were using the spare capacity of the Ingolstadt plant to assemble an additional 60,000 Volkswagen Beetles per year. Two-stroke engines became less popular during the 1960s as customers were more attracted to
7684-416: The early 1950s, and may have received design proposals from Porsche earlier than that. All of the internal projects' names started with "EA", standing for "Entwicklungsauftrag" and meaning "Development assignment". This work began during the tenure of Heinz Nordhoff , who was Director General of Volkswagen from 1948 to 1968. In 1952 the company built the EA41 in collaboration with Pininfarina . Essentially
7797-435: The fatally flawed NSU Ro80 went out of production in 1977, spelling the effective end of the NSU brand. Production of the Audi 100 had been steadily moved from Ingolstadt to Neckarsulm as the 1970s had progressed, and by the appearance of the second generation C2 version in 1976, all production was now at the former NSU plant. Neckarsulm from that point onward would produce Audi's higher-end models. The Audi image at this time
7910-439: The first generation Passat was released in 1973, and the first generation Scirocco , a Giugiaro design prepared concurrently with the Golf, was released months ahead of the Golf. From October 2, 1974 to January 14, 1975 two Golf Mk1s were driven over 30,500 km (19,000 mi) from Fairbanks, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego as a test of their durability. The right-hand drive Golf went on sale in Britain in October 1974. For
8023-470: The five-cylinder engine was a successful and robust powerplant, it was still a little too different for the target market. With the introduction of an all-new Audi 100 in 1992, Audi introduced a 2.8L V6 engine . This engine was also fitted to a face-lifted Audi 80 (all 80 and 90 models were now badged 80 except for the USA), giving this model a choice of four-, five-, and six-cylinder engines, in saloon , coupé and convertible body styles. The five-cylinder
8136-511: The foundation of Auto Union in 1932. The modern Audi era began in the 1960s, when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz . After relaunching the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series, Volkswagen merged Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, thus creating the present-day form of the company. The company name is based on the Latin translation of
8249-488: The highest selling C-segment cars in Europe were the Volkswagen Golf, Škoda Octavia, Ford Focus, Mercedes A-Class, Toyota Corolla, SEAT León, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3, Citroen C4, Peugeot 308, Renault Mégane, Kia Ceed, Opel Astra, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Volkswagen ID.3. 200,000 – 300,000 sales (Best-Selling) 100,000 – 200,000 sales 50,000 – 100,000 sales Notes: Jump in segment total sales after 2019. year
8362-574: The historical trademarks and intellectual property of the original constituent companies (the exception being Horch, which had been retained by Daimler-Benz after the VW takeover), and to operate Audi's heritage operations. In 1986, as the Passat-based Audi 80 was beginning to develop a kind of "grandfather's car" image, the type 89 was introduced. This completely new development sold extremely well. However, its modern and dynamic exterior belied
8475-433: The ideas of Felix Wankel . In 1967, the new NSU Ro 80 was a car well ahead of its time in technical details such as aerodynamics, light weight, and safety. However, teething problems with the rotary engines put an end to the independence of NSU. The Neckarsulm plant is now used to produce the larger Audi models A6 and A8 . The Neckarsulm factory is also home of the " quattro GmbH " (from November 2016 " Audi Sport GmbH "),
8588-547: The intake system and declared the car "undriveable". The ad hoc development team arranged to use the fuel-injected version of the EA827 engine that had been developed for the new Audi 80 GTE. That engine's Bosch K-Jetronic system reduced intake noise and raised power output. Small family car In 2011, the C-segment had a European market share of 23%. The European segments are not based on size or weight criteria. In practice, C-segment cars have been described as having
8701-485: The last internal prototype for a Beetle replacement built under Nordhoff's direction appeared. This car, designated EA276, was a small three-door hatchback with front-wheel drive using a front-mounted Volkswagen air-cooled engine . The EA276 program was cancelled after the death of Nordhoff, but did find new life as the inspiration for the Brazilian Gol . During Nordhoff's time VW did broaden its product line with
8814-533: The launch of the Volkswagen Type 3 in 1961 and the Volkswagen Type 4 in 1968. In 1964 the company acquired control of the Auto Union group from Daimler-Benz and with it the technologies of the constituent companies of DKW , Horch , Audi and Wanderer . Kurt Lotz succeeded Nordhoff as Director General of Volkswagen from 1968 to 1971. Work to broaden the product line and find a replacement for
8927-513: The low performance of its base engine, and its base package was quite spartan (even the passenger-side mirror was an option). In 1987, Audi put forward a new and very elegant Audi 90 , which had a much superior set of standard features. In the early 1990s, sales began to slump for the Audi 80 series, and some basic construction problems started to surface. Through the early 1990s, Audi began to shift its target market upscale to compete against German automakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW . This began with
9040-418: The lower horizontal bodyline running under the tail-lamps on the rear hatch dropped down in the location of the rear license plate. This feature has been dubbed "Swallowtail" by some Golf enthusiasts. The surface between the raised sides on the bonnet on early cars also blended smoothly into the leading edge. The Golf was not the first example of Giugiaro's work for Volkswagen to reach production. His design for
9153-701: The majority of shares in Audiwerke AG. In the same year, Rasmussen bought the remains of the U.S. automobile manufacturer Rickenbacker , including the manufacturing equipment for 8-cylinder engines. These engines were used in Audi Zwickau and Audi Dresden models that were launched in 1929. At the same time, 6-cylinder and 4-cylinder ( the "four" with a Peugeot engine) models were manufactured. Audi cars of that era were luxurious cars equipped with special bodywork. In 1932, Audi merged with Horch , DKW, and Wanderer , to form Auto Union AG, Chemnitz . It
9266-411: The marketing department who coined the "GTI" acronym, and Franz Hauk, developer of the EA827 engine. A prototype was built based on a Scirocco, rather than a Golf. This proof-of-concept had an EA827 engine with dual carburetors and a lowered and stiffened suspension. When this prototype was driven by Volkswagen's Chief of Research Ernst Fiala , he objected to the harsh suspension and excessive noise from
9379-399: The name on estate cars / Station Wagons so it is largely forgotten. This hatchback layout was further pioneered along with the European switch to front wheel drive FF layout with the smaller 1964 (Fiat) Autobianchi Primula . The modern C-segment market in Europe can be traced back to the 1968 launch of the Renault 6 , the first successful hatchback of this size. The hatchback bodystyle
9492-628: The new car included "Blizzard" and "Caribe", but these lost out to the final choice of "Golf". The origin of the name is variously attributed to the game of golf , the Gulf Stream current (German "Golfstrom") or the name of a horse. The Golf Mk1 received VW model designation Type 17 . Production started in March 1974, and sales officially began in May 1974. By this time Giugiaro's rectangular headlamps and wide tail-lamps had given way to round headlamps and much narrower rear lamps. On these earliest cars
9605-466: The overall market. And while Europeans bought more small crossovers than compact cars in the first three quarters of the year, in the full-year score the pecking order is returned to “normal”, with an advantage of 17,000 sales for the compact class. This result is mostly due to a wave of VW ID.3 (self)registrations, especially in December. We expect small crossovers to become Europe’s #2 segment in 2021 by
9718-561: The panel. The Golf was introduced to Japan in 1975, where it was imported by the Yanase dealership chain. Its exterior dimensions and engine displacement were in compliance with Japanese Government dimension regulations . The Golf Mk1 was runner-up for European Car of the Year in 1975, losing to the Citroën CX . A minor exterior revision in December 1978 replaced the narrow front and rear bumpers with moulded units that wrapped around
9831-785: The rear-wheel-drive saloon format of the Mk2 with a hatchback and front-wheel drive. (A saloon version called the Ford Orion was added in 1983.) Only in 1983 was the Austin Allegro replaced by the Austin Maestro hatchback. In 1984, the Vauxhall Astra Mk2 hatchback/estate/cabriolet was released, alongside a saloon version called the Vauxhall Belmont . The first significant Japanese-designed compact car in
9944-697: The reduced sales of 4-door Ford Focus . During the late 1990s, compact MPVs increased in popularity as a competitor to the compact car, with models such as the Renault Scenic and the Citroën C4 Picasso becoming popular in Europe. By the early 2010s, demand for compact MPVs was declining, due to the rise of the compact SUV . After the Second World War, European manufacturers usually featured two vehicle types: small economy cars that were usually saloons and large saloons . By
10057-554: The release of the Audi V8 in 1990. It was essentially a new engine fitted to the Audi 100/200, but with noticeable bodywork differences. Most obvious was the new grille that was now incorporated in the bonnet. By 1991, Audi had the four-cylinder Audi 80, the 5-cylinder Audi 90 and Audi 100 , the turbocharged Audi 200 and the Audi V8. There was also a coupé version of the 80/90 with both four- and five-cylinder engines. Although
10170-621: The sides of the car. Another minor facelift in 1980 saw the adoption of wider rear lamp clusters and a new dashboard with a more modern-looking instrument display featuring LED warning lights. US versions also received rectangular headlights. This was the last major update before the Mk1 was replaced by the Mk2 Golf in most markets in September 1983 and in the British market in March 1984. The Golf
10283-518: The smoother four-stroke engines. In September 1965, the DKW F102 was fitted with a four-stroke engine and a facelift for the car's front and rear. Volkswagen dumped the DKW brand because of its associations with two-stroke technology, and having classified the model internally as the F103 , sold it simply as the "Audi". Later developments of the model were named after their horsepower ratings and sold as
10396-405: The surname of the founder, August Horch . Horch , meaning 'listen', becomes audi in Latin. The four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audi's predecessor company, Auto Union. Audi's slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik , which is translated as 'Progress through Technology'. Audi, along with German brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz ,
10509-443: The time: "Audi idle-stabilization systems were prone to defects which resulted in excessive idle speeds and brief unanticipated accelerations of up to 0.3g [which is similar in magnitude to an emergency stop in a subway car]. These accelerations could not be the sole cause of [(long-duration) sudden acceleration incidents (SAI)], but might have triggered some SAIs by startling the driver. The defective idle-stabilization system performed
10622-526: The use of frugal three-cylinder engines. The A2 was extremely aerodynamic and was designed around a wind tunnel . The Audi A2 was criticised for its high price and was never really a sales success but it planted Audi as a cutting-edge manufacturer. The model, a Mercedes-Benz A-Class competitor, sold relatively well in Europe. However, the A2 was discontinued in 2005 and Audi decided not to develop an immediate replacement. The next major model change came in 1995 when
10735-421: The viability of all-wheel-drive racecars, and the Audi name became associated with advances in automotive technology. In 1985, with the Auto Union and NSU brands effectively dead, the company's official name was now shortened to simply Audi AG . At the same time the company's headquarters moved back to Ingolstadt and two new wholly owned subsidiaries; Auto Union GmbH and NSU GmbH , were formed to own and manage
10848-564: The world, some of which are shared with other VW Group marques although many sub-assemblies such as engines and transmissions are manufactured within other Volkswagen Group plants. Audi's two principal assembly plants in Germany are: Outside of Germany, Audi produces vehicles at: In September 2012, Audi announced the construction of its first North American manufacturing plant in Puebla , Mexico. This plant became operative in 2016 and produces
10961-561: Was West Germany's best selling new car for much of its production life, and was among the most successful cars in the whole of Europe during its nine-year production run. The Golf adopted an efficient " two-box " layout with a steep hatchback rather than a formal trunk. The chassis was a steel unibody. The car's engine was mounted transversely in the front, and drove the front wheels. Engines from two Audi engine families were offered. Both were water cooled inline four cylinder four-stroke engines. Both also had two valves per cylinder operated by
11074-452: Was a Beetle-successor project that started in 1962 with a unibody study by Pininfarina. As the project progressed the car grew in size and weight. Eventually it was rejected as a Beetle replacement, but served as the foundation of the subsequent Volkswagen Type 4 model. In 1967 another set of prototypes for possible Beetle replacements appeared in the form of the EA235 and EA235a. In 1968
11187-499: Was a conservative one, and so, a proposal from chassis engineer Jörg Bensinger was accepted to develop the four-wheel drive technology in Volkswagen 's Iltis military vehicle for an Audi performance car and rally racing car. The performance car, introduced in 1980, was named the " Audi Quattro ", a turbocharged coupé which was also the first German large-scale production vehicle to feature permanent all-wheel drive through
11300-561: Was also sold as a two-door saloon. It was built in Italy by Innocenti as well as in the UK. For 1965 Innocenti designed a new single-piece rear door for their Combinata version of the Countryman. This top-hinged door used struts to hold it up over a wide cargo opening and was a true hatchback – a model never developed in the home (United Kingdom) market. The Countryman name has 'estate' type associations, and BMC successor company Rover used
11413-547: Was by rack-and-pinion . Front brakes were 239 mm (9.4 in) disks with solid rotors. In the rear were 178 mm (7.0 in) drums. The car's tires varied with the power-train, with 145SR13 on the 1.1, and 155SR13s on the 1.3 and 1.5. Tires on the GTIs were larger, using 175/70 profile 13-inch tires. Due to the negative political reaction to the 1973 release of the Beetle "Gelb-Schwarzer Renner" ("GSR", or "Yellow-Black Racer"), Volkswagen had little inclination to develop
11526-572: Was deleted from the commercial register. These actions had the effect of liquidating Germany's Auto Union AG. The remains of the Audi plant of Zwickau became the VEB (for "People Owned Enterprise") Automobilwerk Zwickau or AWZ (in English: Automobile Works Zwickau). The former Audi factory in Zwickau restarted assembly of the pre-war models in 1949. These DKW models were renamed to IFA F8 and IFA F9 and were similar to
11639-538: Was during this period that the company offered the Audi Front that became the first European car to combine a six-cylinder engine with front-wheel drive. It used a power train shared with the Wanderer, but turned 180 degrees, so that the drive shaft faced the front. Before World War II , Auto Union used the four interlinked rings that make up the Audi badge today, representing these four brands. However, this badge
11752-574: Was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau (from 1915 on Audiwerke AG Zwickau ) was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court. The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10/22 hp (16 kW) Sport-Phaeton, was produced in the same year, followed by the successor Type B 10/28PS in the same year. Audi started with
11865-491: Was first introduced by Renault with the 1964 Renault 16 , which was elected the 1965 Car of the year in Europe . A review in the English Motoring Illustrated in May 1965 stated: "The Renault Sixteen can thus be described as a large family car but one that is neither a four door saloon and nor is it quite an estate. But, importantly, it is a little different." Even the later similar-sized cars like
11978-463: Was front-wheel-drive, but was built in only saloon and estate body styles. Only the related Austin Maxi was a hatchback. The Hillman Avenger (marketed as a Chrysler Avenger 1976–1979 and as a Talbot Avenger 1979–1981) continued to sell well, in spite of the 1978 launch of the Talbot Horizon front-wheel-drive hatchback. The Ford Escort Mk3 went on sale in the autumn of 1980, replacing
12091-601: Was hugely successful all over Europe. Within a decade, most cars of this size in Europe were front-wheel drive hatchbacks. These included the Fiat Ritmo (Strada in the UK), Ford Escort (from the MK3 model launched in 1980), Opel Kadett ( Vauxhall Astra in the UK), Renault 11 , and the Talbot Horizon (originally a Chrysler / Simca until Peugeot took over Chrysler's European division in 1979). Most manufacturers still offered
12204-483: Was invited to Wolfsburg in January 1970 to work on development project EA337. The first thing he saw when he arrived at VW's research centre was a Fiat 128 , completely disassembled and labelled. The design brief provided by Volkswagen specified a C-segment car with a two-box body in three- and five-door versions. The client also provided Giugiaro with the basic dimensions and the power-train options. Giugiaro produced
12317-583: Was launched in Ingolstadt with loans from the Bavarian state government and Marshall Plan aid. The reformed company was launched 3 September 1949 and continued DKW's tradition of producing front-wheel drive vehicles with two-stroke engines. This included production of a small but sturdy 125 cc motorcycle and a DKW delivery van, the DKW F89 L at Ingolstadt. The Ingolstadt site was large, consisting of an extensive complex of formerly military buildings which
12430-441: Was originally available with two transmission options; a four-speed manual and a three-speed automatic. A five-speed manual became available in 1979. The front suspension was made up of MacPherson struts and helical coil springs with lower wishbones and an anti-roll bar . The rear was semi-independent with dual trailing arms connected by a twist-beam rear suspension and coil springs over telescopic shock absorbers . Steering
12543-662: Was soon dropped as a major engine choice; however, a turbocharged 220 PS (160 kW; 220 hp) version remained. The engine, initially fitted to the 200 quattro 20V of 1991, was a derivative of the engine fitted to the Sport Quattro . It was fitted to the Audi Coupé , named the S2 , and also to the Audi 100 body, and named the S4 . These two models were the beginning of the mass-produced S series of performance cars. Sales in
12656-529: Was suitable for administration as well as vehicle warehousing and distribution, but at this stage there was at Ingolstadt no dedicated plant suitable for mass production of automobiles: for manufacturing the company's first post-war mass-market passenger car plant capacity in Düsseldorf was rented from Rheinmetall-Borsig . It was only ten years later, after the company had attracted an investor, when funds became available for construction of major car plant at
12769-436: Was used only on Auto Union racing cars in that period while the member companies used their own names and emblems. The technological development became more and more concentrated and some Audi models were propelled by Horch- or Wanderer-built engines. Reflecting the economic pressures of the time, Auto Union concentrated increasingly on smaller cars through the 1930s, so that by 1938 the company's DKW brand accounted for 17.9% of
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