Audi vs Mazda: Founders, CEOs and History
Audi was founded in 1909 by August Horch and is led by Gernot Döllner. Mazda was founded in 1920 by Jujiro Matsuda, Kenichi Yamamoto and is led by Masahiro Moro.
Company facts
Founders
Audi
August Horch
Audi does not begin with a single founding moment but with a corporate split and a forced rename. August Horch, one of Germany's automotive pioneers, founded A. Horch & Cie.
Mazda
Jujiro Matsuda
Jujiro Matsuda founded the company (originally Toyo Cork Kogyo) in 1920 in Hiroshima. He rescued a failing artificial cork manufacturing business and aggressively pivoted it into machine tools and eventually three-wheeled autorickshaws (the Mazda-Go).
Kenichi Yamamoto
Kenichi Yamamoto is widely considered the 'father of the rotary engine.' While not the original founder, he was the absolute driving engineering force that convinced Mazda to bet the entire company's survival on the highly experimental Wankel rotary engine in…
CEOs and their tenures
Audi
- Ferdinand Piëch1988–1993
Chief Executive Officer
Piëch joined Audi in 1972, ran development from 1975 and chaired the Board of Management from 1988 until he left for Volkswagen at the start of 1993.
Source - Franz-Josef Kortüm1993–1994
Chief Executive Officer
Kortüm chaired Audi's board of management from 1993 to 1994, between Ferdinand Piëch and Herbert Demel.
Source - Herbert Demel1994–1998
Chief Executive Officer
Demel chaired Audi's board of management from 1994 to 1998, between Ferdinand Piëch and Franz-Josef Paefgen.
Source - Franz-Josef Paefgen1998–2002
Chief Executive Officer
Paefgen chaired Audi's board of management from 1998 to 2002. He later ran Bentley Motors and Bugatti within the Volkswagen Group until he retired in 2011.
Source - Martin Winterkorn2002–2007
Chief Executive Officer
Winterkorn led Audi from 2002 to 2007 and pushed the brand's product and design offensive of that period, including the single-frame grille that became the Audi face, the R8 mid-engine sports car and the Q7, Audi's first large SUV.
Source - Rupert Stadler2007–2018
Chief Executive Officer
Stadler ran Audi for 11 years and oversaw its largest expansion, including the build-out of the Q series and rapid growth in China. Audi brand deliveries roughly doubled during his tenure, passing 1.9 million cars in 2017.
Source - Bram Schot2018–2020
Chief Executive Officer
Schot chaired Audi's board of management from 2018 to 2020, after Rupert Stadler's arrest in the diesel emissions investigation and before Markus Duesmann.
Source - Markus Duesmann2020–2023
Chief Executive Officer
Duesmann, previously a BMW development board member, became Audi CEO in April 2020 with a mandate covering electrification and software.
Source - Gernot Döllner2023–present
Chief Executive Officer
The Supervisory Board appointed Döllner chairman of the Board of Management effective 1 September 2023, succeeding Markus Duesmann, and confirmed him for a further five years in autumn 2025.
Source
Mazda
- Takashi Yamanouchi2008–2013
President and Chief Executive Officer
He launched the Skyactiv technology programme. Masamichi Kogai succeeded him in 2013.
Source - Akira Marumoto2018–2023
Representative Director, President and CEO
Serving as CEO from 2018 to 2023, he guided Mazda through the catastrophic semiconductor shortage, completely abandoning massive sales volume targets to focus entirely on per-unit profitability.
Source - Masahiro Moro2023–present
Representative Director, President & CEO
As CEO, he navigated the massive, systemic crisis of Mazda's extreme delay in EV development by aggressively focusing on the highly lucrative North American market to generate the cash needed for survival.
Source
Timeline: Audi and Mazda side by side
1909Audi
Founding in Zwickau
August Horch registers a new car company in Zwickau after leaving the firm that carried his own name, laying the foundation of the business that becomes Audi.
1910Audi
The Audi name is registered
Barred by a court from trading under his surname, Horch registers Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau, using the Latin imperative that translates the German word Horch, meaning listen.
1920Mazda
Toyo Cork Kogyo Founded in Hiroshima
Jujiro Matsuda established artificial cork manufacturing in Hiroshima.
1931Mazda
Launch of Mazda-Go Three-Wheeler
Introduced Mazda's first motorized vehicle to support Japanese transport.
1932Audi
Auto Union AG is formed
On 29 June 1932, at the initiative of Saxony's state bank, Audi, DKW, Horch and the car division of Wanderer Werke merge into Auto Union AG, then the second largest motor manufacturer in Germany. The four interlocking rings stand for the four companies.
1945Mazda
Surviving Hiroshima & Rebuilding
Factory sheltered from the atomic bomb, serving as the city's reconstruction HQ.
1949Audi
Auto Union is re-established in Ingolstadt
After the Saxon plants are expropriated by the Soviet occupation authorities and Auto Union AG is struck from the Chemnitz commercial register in 1948, managers who fled west establish Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt on 3 September 1949 and begin building DKW va…
1958Audi
Daimler-Benz takes control
Daimler-Benz AG acquires 88 percent of Auto Union GmbH in April 1958 and makes it a wholly owned subsidiary the following year.
1965Audi
Volkswagen takes over and the Audi name returns
Volkswagenwerk AG takes over Auto Union in 1965. The same year the company launches its first post-war model with a four-stroke engine, the F103 series, under the revived Audi name.
1967Mazda
Commercial Launch of Rotary Cosmo Sport
Commercialized world's first dual-rotor Wankel rotary sports car.
1968Audi
The Audi 100 is developed without approval
Development chief Ludwig Kraus designs a larger car in secret, against the wishes of Volkswagen management. Presented in Ingolstadt in November 1968 as the Audi 100, its success secures Auto Union's independence inside the Volkswagen Group.
1969Audi
Merger with NSU
Auto Union GmbH and NSU merge to form AUDI NSU AUTO UNION AG within the Volkswagen Group.
1980Audi
quattro all-wheel drive is unveiled
The Audi quattro, with permanent all-wheel drive and two manually lockable differentials, is shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1980. It goes on to win the World Rally Championship manufacturers' title in 1982 and both titles in 1984.
1985Audi
The company is renamed AUDI AG
AUDI NSU AUTO UNION AG becomes AUDI AG, with its head office in Ingolstadt, and sales responsibility moves from Volkswagen to Audi as part of the move upmarket.
1989Mazda
World Premiere of MX-5 Miata
Unveiled the lightweight roadster that defined modern sports car joy.
1991Mazda
Historic Victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans
Mazda 787B became the first Japanese car to win Le Mans with rotary power.
1994Audi
A8 introduces the aluminium Space Frame
Audi enters the luxury segment with the A8, the first volume production car built on the aluminium Audi Space Frame.
1998Audi
Lamborghini is acquired
Audi acquires Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. on 10 July 1998 after learning through an engine enquiry that the brand was for sale. Press reports at the time put the price at about 110 million US dollars.
2000Audi
The Le Mans run begins
Audi takes the first of 13 wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2000 and 2014, including the first victory for a diesel car with the R10 TDI and later wins with the R18 e-tron quattro hybrid.
2015Audi
Diesel emissions scandal reaches Audi's V6 TDI
United States regulators find defeat-device software in the 3.0-litre V6 TDI engine family developed by Audi and fitted to Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche models.
2018Audi
An ~$904 million (800 million euro) order and a CEO resignation
Munich II prosecutors impose an ~$904 million (800 million euro) administrative order on AUDI AG over the diesel engines, and Audi accepts it. CEO Rupert Stadler resigns the same year after being arrested; he is convicted of fraud by negligence in 2023.
2018Mazda
Akira Marumoto becomes CEO
Akira Marumoto became CEO of Mazda Motor in 2018. Led Mazda from 2018 until Masahiro Moro succeeded him in June 2023.
2020Audi
Volkswagen buys out the last Audi shareholders
Volkswagen AG, holding about 99.64 percent of the share capital, carries out a squeeze-out of the remaining 0.36 percent of AUDI AG shares, ending Audi's stock market listing.
2021Mazda
Opening of Mazda Toyota Alabama Plant
Inaugurated $2.3B joint venture factory assembling the CX-50.
2023Audi
Gernot Döllner becomes CEO
The Supervisory Board appoints Gernot Döllner chairman of the Board of Management effective 1 September 2023, succeeding Markus Duesmann. He is confirmed for a further five years in autumn 2025.
2023Mazda
Masahiro Moro becomes CEO
Masahiro Moro became CEO of Mazda Motor in 2023. Previously ran Mazda North American Operations; became President and CEO in June 2023 and is steering Mazda through US tariffs, the new CX-5 launch and a slower EV timeline.
2024Audi
First Premium Platform Electric model
The Audi Q6 e-tron, the first production model on the 800-volt Premium Platform Electric developed with Porsche, reaches the market and becomes the first fully electric Audi built in Ingolstadt.
2025Audi
Restructuring agreement and a China-only brand
Audi and its works council sign an agreement for the future that removes up to 6,000 German jobs by 2027 while ruling out operational layoffs to the end of 2033.
2026Audi
Formula 1 debut
Audi enters Formula 1 as the Audi Revolut F1 Team, racing from the season opener in Australia on 8 March 2026 with a power unit developed at its motorsport site in Neuburg.
2026Mazda
US Tariffs Cut Operating Income to ¥51.6 Billion
FY March 2026 net sales were ~$33 billion (¥4.92 trillion); operating income fell 72% as US tariffs hit Japan- and Mexico-built exports.
Acquisitions
Audi
- Sauber Group2024Undisclosed
- Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A.2012$1.1B
- Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A.2010Undisclosed
- Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.1998$110M
Mazda
No verified acquisitions are listed.
Questions about Audi vs Mazda
Who is the CEO of Audi AG and Mazda Motor Corporation?
Audi AG is led by Gernot Döllner and Mazda Motor Corporation is led by Masahiro Moro. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Audi AG founded vs Mazda Motor Corporation?
Audi AG was founded in 1909 — 11 years before Mazda Motor Corporation, which was founded in 1920. Audi AG's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Mazda Motor Corporation.
How many employees does Audi AG have compared to Mazda Motor Corporation?
Audi AG employs approximately 88,000 people, while Mazda Motor Corporation employs approximately 48,000. Audi AG has the larger workforce at 88,000 employees, compared to Mazda Motor Corporation's 48,000. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Audi AG and Mazda Motor Corporation headquartered?
Audi AG is headquartered in Germany and Mazda Motor Corporation is headquartered in Japan. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Audi AG and Mazda Motor Corporation?
Audi AG was founded by August Horch. Mazda Motor Corporation was founded by Jujiro Matsuda, Kenichi Yamamoto.
Which company has a longer operating history — Audi AG or Mazda Motor Corporation?
Audi AG has been operating for approximately 117 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Mazda Motor Corporation has been in operation for around 106 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Audi vs Mazda overview