In 1973, Volkswagen marketed the Passat / Dasher hatchback, followed by the Golf / Rabbit designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, as well as the Audi 50 / Volkswagen Polo in 1974.

The body style has been varied through the life of the car, originally as a hatchback which derived from the Audi 50.

The first Polo was effectively a rebadged version of the Audi 50 hatchback launched in August 1974.

The first-generation Polo, a rebadged version of the Audi 50, was introduced in 1975 and was produced until October 1981.

It shared the internal designation Typ 86 with the Audi 50.

The two cars were initially sold alongside each other, but the Audi 50 never sold as well, and was withdrawn in 1978.

* 1272 cc, straight-4 petrol, ( Polo GT, Derby sedan models, Audi 50 only )

Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari 308 GT4 of 1973, the Audi 50 and Innocenti Mini 90 of 1974, the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally in 1975 and the prototype Alfa Romeo Navajo in 1976.

The original A3 ( or Typ 8L ) was introduced in the European market in 1996, marking Audi's return to the production of smaller cars following the demise of the Audi 50.

The A2 was also notable for being the first Audi model since the 1970s Audi 50 not to be offered with its ' trademark ' quattro four-wheel drive option.

* Audi 50

The Audi 50 ( known internally as the Typ 86 ) is a supermini economy car produced by German automaker Audi from 1974 to 1978 and sold only in Europe.

The Audi 50 was built by Audi NSU Auto Union AG at the former NSU factory in Neckarsulm, Germany and at the giant Wolfsburg plant by Volkswagen.

The Volkswagen and Audi badged models were sold alongside each other for 3 years until 1978, but the cheaper Volkswagen Polo outsold the Audi 50, and Audi discontinued the Audi 50 in 1978, after a total production of 180, 812 units.

August Horch ( 12 October 1868 – 3 February 1951 ) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, the founder of the manufacturing giant which would eventually become Audi.

He was an honorary citizen of Zwickau and had a street named for his Audi cars in both Zwickau and his birthplace Winningen.

During this transition, production was also moved from Düsseldorf to Ingolstadt where the successor company Audi still has its production.

This model was the direct forerunner of the first post-war Audi, the F103.

The main difference was that the Audi used a conventional four-stroke engine.

The company has always had a close relationship with, initially, the Volkswagen ( VW ) marque, and later, the Volkswagen Group ( which also owns Audi AG ), because the first Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

The two companies collaborated in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6, whereby the 914-6 had a Porsche engine, and the 914 had a Volkswagen engine, in 1976 with the Porsche 912E ( USA only ) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components, and was built at Audi's Neckarsulm factory.

At the time, Volkswagen lacked an internal research and design division, and Porsche was doing the bulk of the company's development work, per a deal that went back to the 1950s ; in keeping with this history, Porsche was contracted to develop a new sporting vehicle with the caveat that this vehicle must work with an existing VW / Audi I4 engine.

An Audi three-speed automatic was offered starting with the 1977. 5 model.

This was robust, but expensive due to some 915 internal parts, and was replaced for 1980 with a normal H-pattern Audi five-speed on all non-turbo cars.

Production was moved from the Audi plant in Neckarsulm ( where the 924 and 944 had been manufactured under contract to Porsche ), to Porsche's own factory in Zuffenhausen.

His body was recovered later that day in the trunk of a green Audi 100 on the rue Charles Péguy.

However Prost has also stated that he has no intention of racing at the famous Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race held annually near Le Mans, France due to concerns about the skill and experience of other drivers along the nature of the multiple class racing that occurs at Le Mans, a factor that was supported by Scotsman and two time LeMans winner Allan McNish's horror crash in the Audi R18 in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This car was sponsored by Beverly Porsche / Audi.

Thus the Audi Quattro was born.

The body was built on the basis of Simca 1307, while longitudinal engine placement and torsion-crank rear suspension and McPherson strut front suspension was inspired by Audi 80 / 100 family, while taking into account the larger size of the Moskvitch and Lada engines.

Its platform was developed by Porsche and is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7.

The road car engine aspect of the business was split from the racing division following the sale of the engineering division of Cosworth to VW / Audi in September 1998 and renamed Cosworth Technology, before being acquired by Mahle GmbH in 2005.

The advent of the AWD turbo Audi Quattro gave the rear-wheel-drive, normally aspirated 190E rally car no chance of being successful and the competition car was stillborn.

Major parts ( block, crankshaft, head assembly ) were initially purchased from Audi and shipped to the U. S. where final assembly was accomplished by AMC at a plant purchased specifically for production of this engine.

The automaker's first new design in eleven years, the car was also the brand's first new model under the ownership of German parent company Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen.

For Audi in their Audi S8 5. 2 FSI quattro, the V10 was a compromise between a V12 which would be too long and suffer more internal friction due to extra cylinders and values, and a V8 which would be more compact but have larger heavier pistons and produce lower revs.

Audi used a retractable steering wheel and seat belt tensioning system called procon-ten, but it has since been discontinued in favor of airbags and pyrotechnic seat belt pre-tensioners.

It effectively took the place of several models that Audi had discontinued ( the F103 series, which included the first model designated as an " Audi 80 "), and provided the company with a viable rival to the Opel Ascona and the Ford Taunus.

The Audi 50 had no replacement in the supermini class until the launch of the significantly larger Audi A2 in 1999 which was also discontinued in 2005.

The S6 5. 2 FSI was discontinued after the 2011 model year, shortly before the release of the 2012 Audi A6 ( C7 ).

The Omni had been designed alongside the Chrysler Horizon with much input from the Chrysler Europe division of the company ( evidenced by many examples having VW / Audi engines ), which Iacocca axed in 1978.

Audi redesigned the 80 on the B2 platform ( Typ 81 ) in 1978 in Europe, and in 1979 ( as a 1980 model ) in North America.

Shinya Nakazawa ( born March 29, 1978 ) is a Japanese race car driver who competed in Formula Palmer Audi during 1998 and finished 13th in points.

* Audi 80 ( Typ 82, 1977 – 1978 )