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Old 26th September 2018, 01:57   #1
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Audi bringing back ‘Horch’ name to compete with Mercedes' Maybach

Audi bringing back ‘Horch’ name for super-luxe A8 Sedan to compete against Mercedes' Maybach brand, powered either by V8 or W12.

Audi bringing back ‘Horch’ name to compete with Mercedes' Maybach-audi.jpg

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Audi plans to revive the more-than-100-year-old “Horch” brand so it can stick the nameplate on a new facelifted Audi A8, according to a report by Automotive News.

If we backtrack slightly for context, the Horch name comes from August Horch, a man who used to work for Karl Benz until he started a new automobile company called Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, but when problems arose at that company, he broke off and started Audi. Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer joined in 1932 to form Auto Union.

Horch cars had always been luxurious, so it’s fitting for Audi to bring back the nameplate for their top-of-the-line Audi A8. The Horch name will return in two to three years to fall in line with the mid-cycle facelift of the full-sized sedan.

The A8 Horch will have more equipment than the A8L, but will not stretch the wheelbase like the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class it will compete against. The A8 will be the only Audi getting the “Horch” treatment, while Mercedes plans to extend Maybach to other models.

Not much is known yet about the new Horch, though custom alloy wheels and “Horch” badges on the front fenders or C-pillars are expected. Powerplants for the big sedan will come via either a V8; or the twin-turbo 6.0-litre W12 that hasn’t yet been made available for the A8 or A8 L. That would mean 600 horsepower and 633 lb-ft of torque.

Unfortunately, Audi also says that the current generation of A8 will be the last model to feature the awesome W12.
Source

I had never heard of Horch before, and had to do some google searching to find out about it.
For anyone interested, please read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horch

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Old 26th September 2018, 11:26   #2
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re: Audi bringing back ‘Horch’ name to compete with Mercedes' Maybach

This will be interesting in the sense that the Horch will be somewhere between the regular A8 and the Bentley. Making a new brand or a sub-brand like Maybach is to Mercedes may not make much sense to the VW Group which has way too many brands under its umbrella unlike Mercedes and BMW, but it will help with the sales at a time when certain luxury enthusiasts with a taste for bespoke manufacturing are looking for something beyond the known brands.

BTW the history is that a company that was manufacturing coaches and chassis for Mercedes, later transformed into A.Horch and Cie, which again as has been written above, transformed into Audi (to listen) due to copyright issues on the Horch name. Wonder if the copyrights are resolved by now?

This brand better be all about bespoke to the last detail, VW Group is not exactly known for that in the luxury department. Otherwise the Horch will simply be a more expensive, more refined variant of the A8 which is turn is a more expensive, more refined variant of the Phaeton, all using the D Series platform.

Last edited by dark.knight : 26th September 2018 at 11:28.
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