The first Audi 100, developed by 

Auto Union (Volkswagen's subsidiary) at Ingolstadt, was unveiled

as a four-door sedan on November 26, 1968. Its name originally denoting a power output of 100 PS
(74 kW), the Audi 100 was the company's largest car since the revival of the Audi brand by
Volkswagen in 1965. The C1 platform spawned several variants: the Audi 100 two- and four-door
saloons, and the Audi 100 Coupé S, a fastback coupé, which bore a resemblance to the Aston
Martin DBS released a year earlier with similar details such as the louvres behind the rear side
windows and the shape of the rear light clusters.
Audi followed the introduction of the four-door saloon in November 1968 with a two-door saloon in
October 1969 and the 100 Coupé S in autumn 1970. The cars' 1.8 litre four cylinder
engines originally came in base 100 (80 PS or 59 kW or 79 hp), 100 S (90 PS or 66 kW or 89 hp),
and 100 LS (100 PS or 74 kW or 99 hp) versions, while the Coupé was driven by a bored-out 1.9
litre developing 115 PS (85 kW; 113 hp). From April 1970 the 100 LS could be ordered with a three-
speed automatic transmission sourced from Volkswagen.
Although the Audi 100's engines were considered "rough", critics stated that buyers whose first car
had been a Beetle and aspired to upgrade to a contemporary diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz were
unlikely to be discouraged.[2] The Ingolstadt production line was at full capacity, yet fell short of
demand that during the summer of 1970 and an additional line was set up in Volkswagen's
own Wolfsburg plant, which made it the first water cooled car produced there. [4] For the Swiss
market, the 100 LS was equipped with a version of the 1.8 liter engine bored out by 0.5 mm
(0.020 in), producing 107 PS (79 kW).[5] This placed the engine above 9 horsepower tax thresholds in
the 19 cantons where this system was in use; why this was desired is unknown. [6]