DKW Front F1 – First Front-Wheel Drive Automobile

The first Audi advertising with the ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ or ‘Progress through Technology’ slogan appeared 40 years ago, in 1971. Even then this technical leadership claim was well and truly justified. If we look back another 40 years we find DKW, one of the companies that later became Audi, introducing its F1 model at the 1931 International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin – the world’s first high-volume production car with front-wheel drive.

Jörgen Skafte Rasmussen acquired a majority shareholding in Audi Werke AG of Zwickau, Germany in August 1928.He planned to stimulate sales by installing his eight-cylinder engines in the large Audi models, but competition from America was strong, and during the world economic crisis from the end of 1929 onwards Audi found itself facing increasingly severe financial problems. A new product with greater market appeal was urgently needed to ensure the company’s survival.