Amazing Facts About Audi You Probably Didn't Know

Audi has become known as one of the best luxury car brands in the world. They're known for making some of the most beautiful cars on the market as well as being one of the few brands that may just make some of the best supercars on the market.

Audis aren't just lookers, either. They are seriously powerful foreign cars, and some of them even got the dubious honor of being banned in the United States because they were so powerful.

Shocking as it may be, most gearheads already know these things. However, only a real gearhead will know these epic trivia facts about Audi—the brand and the cars.

Audi originally had a very different name, and it wasn't as pretty as you'd expect it to be.

Audi... Just the name sounds so elegant, doesn't it? Believe it or not, the Audi company once had a much clunkier-sounding name—and that's one of the more surprising facts about Audi.

August Horsch, the company founder, originally wanted to call his car manufacturing company Horsch Automobile Works. (Try to say you drive a Horsch. Horsch. It doesn't work.)

The only reason why he did not use the name was that there was a prior company that conflicted with him on the name. After a copyright infringement case, Horsch had to rename his company.

Adamant to keep to a name that had something to do with his moniker, Horsch started to search for a solution. In German, his last name means "to listen." So Horsch decided to look for a translation. The Latin translation, "audi," ended up being the name he chose.

Audi is actually an acquisition of Volkswagen.

Surprised? Don't be. This giant company has become the high-end luxury branch of VW and reflects that well. This is also fairly common among car brands today.

One of the more unusual facts about Audi, though, is that this brand was actually struggling when they were solo. Volkswagen bought them, and it became the turning point of the company.

Had VW not bought Audi, Audis would be about as well-known today as Horsch.

The four rings known as Audi's symbol have nothing to do with the Olympics.

Most people recognize the interlocking rings of Audi's symbol and assume it's got something to do with the Olympics. Truth be told, it has a nothing to do with that whatsoever.

The four rings have to do with Audi's collaboration with four other automobile manufacturer companies: Horsch Automobile Works, Wanderer, and DKW. Together, they made the Auto Union that eventually became all of Audi.

The Olympics committee tried to sue Audi over the logo.

Considering all the lore about Audi's symbol, it makes sense to talk about the facts about Audi's logo. It looks Olympic, has a lot of false information surrounding it, and generally is assumed to have a similar sporty outlook as a result of its resemblance.

It's easy to see why people assume that Audi has an Olympic backing—and that's precisely why the Olympics committee sued Audi for copyright infringement. They battled it out in court and Audi came out on top.

Audi was the first car to perform crash tests.

Prior to Audi's crash test, no other automobile manufacturing company ever performed them. The first crash test happened in 1938 and quickly became an industry standard still practiced today.

On a similar note, one of the more surprising facts about Audi is that it was the first car company to introduce left hand drive to Germany. The introduction happened in 1921, and since then, has become another standard set by Audi.

Audi was the OG of hybrid cars.

Here's one of the facts about Audi that Tesla might not want you to know: Audi made the first hybrid car. It was an electric-gas hybrid that was created in 1989, and it was a Audi Duo.

By 1997, Audi also was tinkering with small production batch hybrid cars, too.

The Audi 100 was the most successful line of cars in the brand's history.

Many gearheads can tell you facts about Audi 100s. The car was a favorite in the brand for decades and currently holds the record as the largest production car Audi ever made. It had three different options, a four-door sedan, a two-door saloon, and a coupe.

The car's "100" referred to how many horsepower it used—and at the time of its invention, 100 horsepower was pretty good.

Audi was the first car to have LED lights.

Most people can tell you that replacing light bulbs in your car is not fun. LED lights can last for 10 to 15 years in most cases—and that's why one of the nicer facts about Audi cars is that they were the first cars to have LED headlights.

Ever since 2006, Audi has had LED lights as headlights. For drivers, this meant less bulb changes. For the environment, it meant less burned out lightbulbs ending up in landfills. That's great for everyone involved.

One of the most famous mods done by West Coast Customs was a Tron-themed Audi.

Yes, it's true. The very same West Coast Customs auto shop that was part of the Pimp My Ride series made news headlines again when the new version of Tron came out.

The car mod-loving guys at the shop were so inspired by the new racing scene, they took an Audi A8 and modified it to give it a Tron theme. The car's body was given a chrome paint job, LED lights were placed in the wheels, and a backlit grille was installed.

It looked amazing.

Some Audis get insanely high amounts of inspection before they ever hit dealership lots.

All Audis get a seriously high standard of inspection and care, but one of the facts about Audi A8s and R8s worth noting is how insane that level of care can get.

If you're going to talk about the Audi A8, you might want to know that each of these babies has to go through an X-ray machine before they are cleared for sales. This is done to check out small details that people may miss in the interior.

With the Audi R8 line, it gets even crazier. The level of detail inspection is so high, only the top level of mechanics are allowed to work on R8 production. Moreover, only 20 of these are made per day since they take over 70 hours to make a piece.