August Horch and the first car built in Zwickau Horch convention and museum opening in Zwickau In recognition of its own heritage, AUDI AG is involved in a special way in this year's ceremonies celebrating 100 years of car manufacturing in the German state of Saxony.
Audi Tradition, the company's historic division, will be the main sponsor of the Horch Club's convention in Zwickau from May 13 to 16 and will play an important role in the re-opening celebrations for Zwickau's August Horch Museum in September. Several of Audi Tradition's cars will participate in the "Sachsen Classic" run to be held from September 16 to 18. August Horch was one of the earliest automobile engineers. He founded the Horch and Audi brands, from which the international company that is today AUDI AG has developed. His life's work was dedicated to developing the automobile into a truly efficient motor vehicle. August Horch relocated his company August Horch & Cie., which had been established in 1899, to Zwickau on May 10, 1904. By the summer of that year, the first Horch built in Zwickau had left the factory, representing the start of 100 years of uninterrupted car manufacturing tradition in this town. August Horch consolidated this tradition with his second company, founded in April 1910 under the name of Audi Automobilwerke GmbH, Zwickau.
The DKW front-wheel-drive cars and the Auto Union's "Four Rings" later became symbols for cars manufactured in Zwickau. In 1938, one in five German passenger cars was manufactured here, including many other legendary cars such as the Audi Type C Alpensieger, the DKW F1, the Horch Sport Cabriolets and the Auto Union 16- and 12-cylinder Silver Arrows. The 24th Horch Club convention from May 13 to 16, 2004 in Zwickau is likely to be the largest of its kind. More than 60 cars of this legendary pre-war luxury brand have been registered so far.
It is unlikely that so many Horch cars will be seen together again in one place in the near future. Says Professor Dr. Peter Kirchberg, President of the Horch Club and Audi Tradition's historian:
"The main purpose of this convention is to remind people of the majestic beauty of Horch automobiles and to pay a worthy tribute to August Horch, whose name they carry. We also want to pay our respects to the birthplace of our cars and the people who live and work there."
Audi Tradition is not only the event's main sponsor, but will participate with a cavalcade of Horch cars. Seven marvellous cars from the historic collection, built between 1925 and 1939, will appear at this event: the Horch 853 A, Horch 930 V, Horch 850 Pullman Cabrio, Horch 305 Landaulet, Horch 375 Pullman, Horch 851 Pullman and Horch 670 Sport Cabriolet. Audi Tradition will stage a unique motor racing demonstration during the August Horch Museum opening celebrations (from September 10 to 12, 2004). It is planned to display three legendary Auto Union Silver Arrow racing cars there: the Type A (1934), Type C (1936) and Type D (1938). They will be accompanied by Audi rally and touring cars of the 1980s and 1990s and the triple Le Mans winner, the R8. The original reconstruction of the 1939 Wanderer Stromlinie will also make an appearance, and should be of particular interest. The August Horch Museum, located in Audi's oldest factory, will be officially opened on Sunday, September 12, 2004. In this way, the museum's exceptional collection will finally find an appropriate home at Audi's "birthplace" in the office building on Walther-Rathenau-Strasse, where August Horch founded the Audi brand in 1910.
AUDI AG contributed a sum of 6.5 million euros to the construction of the museum. Five of Audi Tradition's cars will participate in the Sachsen Classic run from Zwickau to Dresden, to be held from September 16 to 18, 2004: an Audi 225 Sport Cabriolet, an Audi 920, a DKW F 93 Cabrio, a Horch 930 and an Audi 100 Coupé S. The four rings of the Audi badge symbolise the brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer, which were later combined under the umbrella of Auto Union. Auto Union and NSU, which merged in 1969, made many significant contributions towards the development of the car.
AUDI AG was formed from Audi NSU Auto Union AG in 1985. Together with the two traditional companies Auto Union GmbH and NSU GmbH, Audi Tradition nurtures and presents the deep and diverse history of Audi. The Audi museum mobile at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt is open from Monday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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