Horch

Horch AG
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1904
Defunct	1932, (part of Auto Union)
Headquarters	Zwickau, Saxony, Germany
Key people	August Horch, founder
Products	Automobiles

Horch was a car brand manufactured in Germany by August Horch & Cie, at the beginning of the 20th century.

History at a Glance

The company was established first by August Horch and his first business partner Salli Herz on November 14, 1899 at Ehrenfeld, Cologne.^[1] August Horch was a former production manager for Karl Benz. Three years later in 1902 he moved with his company to Reichenbach im Vogtland. On May, 10th, 1904 he founded the Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, a joint-stock company in Zwickau (State of Saxony). The city of Zwickau was the capital of the South Western Saxon County and one of Saxony's industrial centres at the time.

On July 16, 1909, August Horch, after troubles with Horch chief financial officer, founded his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH in Zwickau. He had to rename his new company because Horch was already a registred brand and he did not hold the rights on it. On April 25, 1910 the brand Audi was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court. Audi is the Latin translation of horch, the imperative form of the German verb hören ("to hear"). The Audi name was proposed by a son of one of his business partners from Zwickau.^[2]

Both companies from Zwickau (Horch and Audi) were unified in 1932 with DKW and Wanderer to Saxony's Auto Union corporation. The Silver Arrow racing cars of the Auto Union racing team in Zwickau, developed by Ferdinand Porsche and Robert Eberan von Eberhorst, driven by Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck, Tazio Nuvolari, Ernst von Delius, were known the world over in the 1930s.

Initial cars

The company initially began producing 5 hp (3.7 kW; 5.1 PS) and 10 hp (7.5 kW; 10 PS) twin-cylinder engine automobiles near Cologne in 1901.

The first Horch had a 4.5 hp (3.4 kW; 4.6 PS) engine, with an alloy crankcase, a unique achievement in those days. It had an open-body design, with lighting provided by lanterns with candles in them. In contrast with the powerful cars of later years, the first Horch could barely reach a top speed of 32 km/h (20 mph). It was significant at that time because it used a friction clutch, and also had a drive shaft to power the wheels.

The firm soon ran into financial troubles, not surprising considering the pioneering nature of the automobile business at that time. Horch had to seek new partners.

On March 1902, August Horch produced a 20 hp (15 kW; 20 PS) four-cylinder car with a shaft drive in Reichenbach in Vogtland. Horch cars were considered^{[by whom?]} more advanced and superior to those being then built by Mercedes or Benz (who were then separate manufacturers).

By 1903, Horch had built a car with a four-cylinder engine. In March of the following year, he introduced his new car at the Frankfurt Fair.

In 1904, August Horch developed the first six-cylinder engine, which appeared in 1907. In 1906 a Horch automobile driven by Dr. Rudolf Stöss from Zwickau won the Herkomer Competition (equivalent to a 'brand-name' world championship at the time). In the 1920s, Moritz Stauss, a cosmopolitan Berliner, was the principal stockholder of the Horch company. He succeeded in making the Horch brand highly desirable by introducing art into the advertising of their products. He recognized that only a brand emphasising Horch's unique characteristics would be successful.

In 1923, Paul Daimler (a Stauss associate) worked for Horch as the chief engineer for 8-cylinder engines. Horch vehicles were subsequently the first to introduce 8-cylinder engines in series production.^{[citation needed]}

Audi connection

In 1909, the supervisory board (the German equivalent of the Board of Directors) of the corporation forced out Horch. Horch went on to found Audi as Audiwerke GmbH, which became effective on 25 April 1910. The name was a solution to the legal dispute with his old company over use of the Horch brand.

In 1928, the company was acquired by Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, owner of DKW (from the German Dampfkraftwagen, or steam engine vehicle) who had bought the remains of the US automobile manufacturer Rickenbacker in the same year. The Rickenbacker purchase included their manufacturing equipment for eight-cylinder engines.

Auto Union

Eventually, on 29 June 1932, Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer merged to form the Auto Union affiliated group. The current Audi four-ring logo is the Auto Union logo that represents for the merger of these four brands. In the 1930s, Horch introduced a new line of smaller and cheaper, but still presentable, V8 automobiles. In 1936, Horch presented the 25,000th 8-cylinder luxury car in Zwickau.

Auto Union became a major supplier of automobiles to the German armed forces. Civilian production was suspended after March 1940. After the war, Auto Union, newly founded in West Germany, continued civilian car production. Due to widespread poverty in post-war Germany, only small DKW vehicles were produced. Luxury vehicle production did not resume until Auto Union was purchased in 1964 by Volkswagen Group and the old brand Audi was introduced again.

Trabant connection

Horch P240 (Sachsenring) Cabriolet (1956)

During the Second World War, the factories suffered heavy bomb damage. Later, the advancing Soviet forces captured the area, and it became part of the Soviet sector of divided Germany in 1945, and later became part of East Germany.

From 1955-1958, old Horch factories produced the Horch P240, a 6-cylinder car with standing at the time. The former Horch and Audi from Zwickau were unified in 1958. A new brand, Sachsenring, within the East German corporation IFA was born. After unification in 1958, the P240 car was renamed as the Sachsenring P240. As the Soviet Administration inexplicably banned the foreign exportation of the P240 the East German economic administration decided to stop production of the vehicle. IFA also produced the initial Trabant "P-50" model from 1957.^[3]

Rare collectibles

On Saturday, June 24, 2006, an incredibly rare 1937 Horch 853A Sport Cabriolet in original unrestored, unprepared condition sold at auction in Cortland NY for $199,000 US.^[4]

In the late 1930s, Horch supplied a limited number of promotional scarves bearing the Horch logo. Only sent to the most wealthy drivers, it is a major collectible amongst diehard enthusiasts of the pre-war car era. However there is also a degree of controversy associated with these scarves as they were commonly sought after by senior SS members.

Horch models

Type	Construction	Cylinders	Displacement	Power	Top speed
4-15 PS	1900–1903	straight-2		2,9-3,7 kW	60 km/h (37 mph)
10-16 PS	1902–1904	straight-2		7,4-8,8 kW	62 km/h (39 mph)
22-30 PS	1903	straight-4	2.725 cc	16,2-18,4 kW
14-20 PS	1905–1910	straight-4	2.270 cc	10,3-12,5 kW
18/25 PS	1904–1909	straight-4	2.725 cc	16,2 kW
23/50 PS	1905–1910	straight-4	5.800 cc	29 kW	100 km/h (62 mph)
26/65 PS	1907–1910	straight-6	7.800 cc	44 kW	120 km/h (75 mph)
25/60 PS	1909–1914	straight-4	6.395 cc	40 kW	110 km/h (68 mph)
10/30 PS	1910–1911	straight-4	2.660 cc	18,4 kW
K (12/30 PS)	1910–1911	straight-4	3.177 cc	20,6 kW	75 km/h (47 mph)
15/30 PS	1910–1914	straight-4	2.608 cc	22 kW	80 km/h (50 mph)
H (17/45 PS)	1910–1919	straight-4	4.240 cc	33 kW
6/18 PS	1911–1920	straight-4	1.588 cc	13,2 kW
8/24 PS	1911–1922	straight-4	2.080 cc	17,6 kW	70 km/h (43 mph)
O (14/40 PS)	1912–1922	straight-4	3.560 cc	29 kW	90 km/h (56 mph)
Pony (5/14 PS)	1914	straight-4	1.300 cc	11 kW
25/60 PS	1914–1920	straight-4	6.395 cc	44 kW	110 km/h (68 mph)
18/50 PS	1914–1922	straight-4	4.710 cc	40 kW (55 PS)	100 km/h (62 mph)
S (33/80 PS)	1914–1922	straight-4	8.494 cc	59 kW
10 M 20 (10/35 PS)	1922–1924	straight-4	2.612 cc	25,7 kW	80 km/h (50 mph)
10 M 25 (10/50 PS)	1924–1926	straight-4	2.612 cc	37 kW	95 km/h (59 mph)
8 Typ 303/304 (12/60 PS)	1926–1927	straight-8	3.132 cc	44 kW	100 km/h (62 mph)
8 Typ 305/306 (13/65 PS)	1927–1928	straight-8	3.378 cc	48 kW	100 km/h (62 mph)
8 Typ 350/375/400/405 (16/80 PS)	1928–1931	straight-8	3.950 cc	59 kW	100 km/h (62 mph)
8 3 ltr. Typ 430	1931–1932	straight-8	3.009-3.137 cc	48 kW (65 PS)	100 km/h (62 mph)
8 4 ltr. Typ 410/440/710	1931–1933	straight-8	4.014 cc	59 kW (80 PS)	100–110 km/h (62–68 mph)
8 4,5 ltr. Typ 420/450/470/720/750/750B	1931–1935	straight-8	4.517 cc	66 kW (90 PS)	115 km/h (71 mph)
8 5 ltr. Typ 480/500/500A/500B/780/780B	1931–1935	straight-8	4.944 cc	74 kW (100 PS)	120–125 km/h (75–78 mph)
12 6 ltr. Typ 600/670	1931–1934	12 V	6.021 cc	88 kW (120 PS)	130–140 km/h (81–87 mph)
830	1933–1934	8 V	3.004 cc	51 kW (70 PS)	110–115 km/h (68–71 mph)
830B	1935	8 V	3.250 cc	51 kW (70 PS)	115 km/h (71 mph)
830Bk/830BL	1935–1936	8 V	3.517 cc	55 kW (75 PS)	115–120 km/h (71–75 mph)
850/850 Sport	1935–1937	straight-8	4.944 cc	74 kW (100 PS)	125–130 km/h (78–81 mph)
830BL/930V	1937–1938	8 V	3.517 cc	60 kW (82 PS)	120–125 km/h (75–78 mph)
830BL/930V	1938–1940	8 V	3.823 cc	67,6 kW (92 PS)	125–130 km/h (78–81 mph)
851/853/853A/855/951/951A	1937–1940	straight-8	4.944 cc	74 kW (100 PS)	125–140 km/h (78–87 mph)

References

^ August Horch: "Ich baute Autos - Vom Schmiedelehrling zum Autoindustriellen", Schützen-Verlag Berlin 1937
^ Audi AG motion picture 1994: "The Silver Arrows from Zwickau", running time approx. 49 mins.
^ "Trabant History". Trabant.shocauto.com. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
^ "Rm Auctions". Rm Auctions. Retrieved 2010-10-02.

External links

[1] August Horch: "Ich baute Autos - Vom Schmiedelehrling zum Autoindustriellen", Schützen-Verlag Berlin 1937

[2] Audi AG motion picture 1994: "The Silver Arrows from Zwickau", running time approx. 49 mins.

[3] "Trabant History". Trabant.shocauto.com. Retrieved 2010-10-02.

[4] "Rm Auctions". Rm Auctions. Retrieved 2010-10-02.

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