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August Horch is one of the first engineers, who got notoriety for building cars. Was born in 1868 r. and at the age of twenty-eight he was the production manager at Benz & Co. w Mannheim, where he learned about car production.

After three years, Horch left the Benz factory, to start assembling his own vehicle in the old barn in Cologne on the Rhine. A year later, his first car was put on wheels.

W 1903 r. listen, with capital 30 thousand. marek, founded the company August Horch & Co., Motorwagenwerke AG based in Zwickau. A type was built here as the first car 18/22 PS with 4-cylinder in-line engine.

Horch amazed the world of specialists with many innovative design solutions. He designed a noiseless gearbox with constantly meshed gears. He was the first to use chrome-nickel steel for the production of gears. Between the engine and gearbox he placed a clutch with leather linings, and a propshaft appeared for the first time in his cars between the gearbox and the drive rear axle.

The victory of dr R.. Stöss on the car 18/22 in the rally for the Herkomer Prize in 1906 r. brought the company sports fame and a lot of orders. Unfortunately, Herkomer's third competition did not repeat the success and caused misunderstandings between Horch and the shareholders. In June 1909 r. Horch left the plant and founded a new car factory in Zwickau under the name Audi, which was the Latin translation of the name Horch.

After the founder's departure, the former Horch company focused on the production of luxury and expensive cars.

The revelation of the Horch production program was the 12-cylinder engine with 1932 r., widlasty, type 600, was gaining power 89 kW (120 KM) by 3000 RPM. A sophisticated detail was the device for generating oil pressure in the engine lubrication system before starting and the hydraulic valve clearance adjustment activated by the driver..

In the same year, the Auto Union AG concern was also established, whose trademark - four connected wheels - encompassed all types of vehicles: small DKW, medium Wanderery, big Audi and luxurious Horche.

The Horch brand disappeared in 1957 r., when the nationalized plants were named Sachsenring Kraftfahrzeug und Motorenwerk Zwickau / Sa.