The next time you see an Audi on the road look closely at its badge. Four intertwined rings that probably remind the average person of the Olympic rings, but like most car badging there is a story behind the rings, which in the case of this German manufacturer goes back to those rather hectic and troubled days before the Second World War.
They were troubled days for German motor vehicle manufacturers, in particular within the landlocked state of Saxony. There were four separate companies that made very different motor vehicles that, under pressure by the State Bank of Saxony, joined together to form Auto Union. The four intertwined rings signifying that while together under one corporate banner, they were still the same four separate marques of Horch, Audi, Wanderer and DKW.
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