Audi has revealed plans to revive the iconic Horch brand for the range-topping A8 sedan, company insiders say. According to Automotive News, the Horch-badged A8 will be the most powerful version of the luxury sedan, and it will be introduced in two or three years.
To the uninitiated, Horch was a successful luxury German brand in the 1920s and 1930s, and represents one of the four rings during Audi’s formative years. Audi has toyed with the idea of resurrecting the brand for the past two decades and has gone as far as to create design mock-ups, but the projects never really saw the light of day.
Well, considering the successes Mercedes-Benz has had with Maybach, perhaps it’s time for Audi to give it a go. The special A8 will likely be differentiated with new wheels, Horch badging and a more luxurious cabin. Its dimensions will probably be preserved, unlike the stretched Mercedes-Maybach S-Class.
The big news lies on the mechanical side of things – the special Horch A8 could be available with a twin-turbo W12 engine. Apparently, the W12 A8 is market-ready, but it’s being put on hold for reasons unknown. “The Horch line would also work with a V8,” a source said.
As of now, it’s unclear what Audi plans to do with the Horch brand in the long run, but there won’t be an offshoot model, a lesson learned from Daimler’s experience with the Maybach 57 and 62 models. Also, it does not plan to expand the name beyond the A8, however the thought has yet to be ruled out.
What are your thoughts on the matter, dear readers? Would you care for some top-end rivalry between two very historically rich automotive brands? Comment, below.
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Now that Audi has the Horch and Mercedes, its Maybach, BMW can bring back the Hans Glas. Then we will see real ultra-luxury battles.
Glas used to make small cars like the Fiat 500… How are they supposed to compete with Maybach and Audi? Whatever you’re smoking is very strong lol
Yong is right. Glas also made the 3000GT, which was the first ever effort to build a sports performance vehicle by BMW. Only it was not built by BMW
Isn’t BMW already owns Rolls Royce?
did you forget that bmw already has the ultra-luxury rolls royce brand ?
Who else thought it was Hyundai at first glance
“and represents one of the four rings during Audi’s formative years”
Some details of Audi’s history: Mr. August Horch was the company founder of Horch automobiles. “Horch” means “hear” in German too. After his company went bancrupt, the brand name Horch was passed to a new owner. So when Mr. Horch founded a new company, he was not allowed to use his name as a brand name. His teenage son suggested to use the latin word for “hear” instead: Audi.
The four rings were originally not a trademark of Audi, but Auto Union. Auto Union consisted of Horch, Audi, Wanderer and DKW. In the 1950s and 1960s DKW with two-stroke engines was the only surviving brand left from Auto Union. After two-stroke engines became less and less popular and the company was therefore in financial difficulties, DKW was taken over by Mercedes-Benz. Benz developed a new car with a four-stroke engine and to get rid of the two-stroke image, they dropped the brand name DKW and used Audi instead. In the late 1960s Audi was purchased by Volkswagen from Mercedes-Benz. So the irony of the story is, that Mercedes-Benz was the one who resurrected it’s competitor.