Editing August Horch

{{short description|German automobile engineer, founder of Audi}}
{{One source|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = August Horch
| honorific_suffix   = 
| image              = Horch.gif
| image_size         = 150px
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1868|10|12|df=yes}} 
| birth_place        = [[Winningen]], [[Rhenish Prussia]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1951|02|03|1868|10|12|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Münchberg]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]]
| known_for          = Founder of [[Audi]] and [[Horch]]
}}

'''August Horch''' (12 October 1868 &ndash; 3 February 1951) was a German [[engineer]] and [[automobile]] [[Innovator|pioneer]], the founder of the manufacturing giant that eventually became [[Audi]].

==Beginnings==
[[Image:Dr. Rudolf Stöss sur Horch 18-20 hp, vainqueur de l'Herkomer-Konkurrenz 1906.jpg|thumb|left|240px|1906 Horch, which Rudolf Stoess drove to victory in the Herkomer Trial]]
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-T1129-501, August Horch in Horch-PKW.jpg|thumb|left|240px|August Horch in a [[Horch]] automobile, 1908]]
Horch was born in [[Winningen]], [[Rhenish Prussia]].  His initial trade was as a blacksmith, and then was educated at {{Lang|de|[[Hochschule Mittweida]]|italic=no}} (Mittweida Technical College).  After receiving a degree in engineering, he worked in shipbuilding.  Horch worked for [[Karl Benz]] from 1896, before founding ''[[Horch|A. Horch & Co.]]'' in November 1899, in [[Ehrenfeld, Cologne]], Germany.<ref name="autoweek">{{cite journal|title=Names Behind The Company: August Horch|journal=[[AutoWeek]]|date=November 30, 2009|page=19}}</ref>

==Manufacturing==
[[Image:Gedenktafel horch ehrenfeld.jpg|thumb|200px|Memorial plate in [[Cologne, Germany]]]]
[[Image:August_Horch_museum_(aka).jpg|thumb|200px|[[August Horch Museum Zwickau]]]]
The first Horch automobile was built in 1901. The company moved to [[Reichenbach im Vogtland|Reichenbach]] in 1902 and [[Zwickau]] in 1904. Horch left the company in 1909 after a dispute, and set up in competition in Zwickau.  His new firm was initially called ''Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH'', but following a legal dispute over the ''Horch'' name, he decided to make another automobile company. (The court decided that ''Horch'' was a registered trademark on behalf of August's former partners and August was not entitled to use it any more). Consequently, Horch named his new company ''[[Audi Automobilwerke GmbH]]'' in 1910, ''Audi'' being the Latinization of Horch.

==Post Audi==
Horch left Audi in 1920 and went to Berlin and took various jobs like being an F student and f students are the inventers.  He published his autobiography, ''I Built Cars ({{Lang|de|Ich Baute Autos}})'' in 1937.  He also served on the board of [[Auto Union]], the successor to Audi Automobilwerke GmbH he had founded. Horch remained an honorary executive at Auto Union during and after its reincorporation in [[Ingolstadt]], [[Bavaria]] in the late 1940s until his death in 1951, ultimately not living to see the later resurrection of his Audi brand a decade later under the ownership of [[Volkswagen]].

He was an honorary citizen of Zwickau and had a street named for his Audi cars in both Zwickau and his birthplace Winningen.  He was made an honorary professor at [[Braunschweig University of Technology]].<ref name="autoweek"/> There is an ''August Horchstrasse'' (August Horch Street)  at Audi's main manufacturing plant in Ingolstadt.


==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/008184}}

{{Audi}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horch, August}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mayen-Koblenz]]
[[Category:People from the Rhine Province]]
[[Category:Audi people]]
[[Category:German automotive pioneers]]
[[Category:German industrialists]]
[[Category:Auto Union]]
[[Category:Engineers from Rhineland-Palatinate]]
[[Category:Horch]]
[[Category:German founders of automobile manufacturers]]