Audi Tradition to commemorate numerous anniversaries in 2025

Twenty-five years ago, the Audi A2 hit the market. With its aluminum body, it made a name for itself as a progressive compact car: light, aerodynamic, and economical. The Audi A2 polarized opinion with its design and unusual proportions; the concept was ahead of its time. However, sales remained below expectations, and Audi ended production after roughly five years and 176,377 units built. Since then, the A2 became a fan favorite and is now a sought-after collector’s item.

Sixty years ago, the first post–World War II Audi rolled off the production line. With the “Auto Union Audi” vehicle, Auto Union GmbH revived the tradition-steeped Audi brand name in 1965. The new name was meant to show that this car represented a fresh start for Auto Union in terms of technology. The Audi was the first car from the brand with four rings to feature a four-cylinder four-stroke engine, and it marked the beginning of a new era in Ingolstadt. Twenty years later, on January 1, 1985, Audi NSU Auto Union AG was renamed AUDI AG, and since that time, the company and its products have shared the same short, memorable name.

Ninety years ago, in February 1935, a spectacular attempt to break speed records took place in Italy. After test drives in October 1934 with the Grand Prix racing car on the AVUS in Berlin, the Auto Union racing department started developing the vehicle that would later be known as the “Lucca” car. Just a few weeks later, in December 1934, it was presented during initial test drives on the AVUS. The record attempts were planned in Hungary but were moved to Italy at the last minute due to bad weather. The one-kilometer and one-mile records were targeted to be broken with a flying start on a five-kilometer stretch between Pescia and Altopascio. Test drives took place on February 14, 1935, and the next day, on February 15, the car piloted by Hans Stuck performed as planned and was heralded the “world’s fastest road-going car.” With a speed of 326.975 km/h reached near Lucca, the vehicle broke 26 world records and 13 international class records.

The “Anniversary Dates 2025” booklet contains several additional anniversaries to discover, including 25 years of the first Audi victory at Le Mans and 25 years of Audi allroad quattro, 35 years of Audi duo hybrid vehicles, 40 years of fully galvanized bodies in large-scale automotive engineering, 50 years of the Audi 80 GTE, 55 years of the Audi 100 Coupé S, 60 years of the NSU Prinz 1000 TT and NSU Type 110, 75 years of the first post-war DKW passenger car, and 90 years of the Horch 850 series.

A complete overview of the anniversary booklet is available in the Audi MediaCenter.