Audi 100, Illicit premium line

These days Audi is, of course, one of the three big German premium makers, but that might not have been the case if it wasn't for a rogue engineer called Ludwig Kraus, who took it upon himself to develop a saloon without telling his employers.

Auto Union, Audi's parent company, was sold to Volkswagen by Mercedes in 1965 because VW wanted its Ingolstadt factory to build more Beetles. Audi saloons had sold poorly until then, so VW boss Heinrich Nordoff instructed Auto Union engineers to stop developing Audi models immediately. Kraus had other ideas, however, and used his experience from his time at Mercedes to develop the Audi 100 in secret, only telling his bosses after he'd knocked together a working prototype.

Fortunately, Nordoff liked the finished product so much that gave it the go-ahead, and the 99bhp Audi 100 was unveiled officially in 1968. The platform underpinned two-and four-door saloons and a coupé and gave VW the confidence in its new brand to invest heavily, leading ultimately to today's Audi.

Mark Nichol