Germany's path to a central position in the motor industry has been anything but smooth. The pioneering work of Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler during the 1880's yielded very little result in their own country.
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| DKW, 1928 |
France, however, rapidly established her motor industry based on the Daimler engines. At the turn of the century the German makes began to score technical and sporting triumphs followed by vast commercial success.
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| DKW, 1931 |
The inflationary period after 1918 killed some of the older firms , robbed others of their independence and produced a few ephemeral makes and some with greater vitality. Technical achievements between 1920 and 1939 ranged from rigid tradition to imaginative vision, and Germany gradually regained a leading position in the technical, sporting and military fields. When defeat came in 1945 the automobile industry was quite literally in ruins. However, car production both helped to bring about and profited from the astounding economic recovery of West Germany.
DKW, 1939
The Danish engineer Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen was the originator of the DKW. The letters initially stood for Dampf - Kraft - Wagen ( Steam powered vehicle ), since Rasmussen's first design was a light steam car, produced in 1916.
Auto Union '1000' and DKW 'Junior'
The two-stroke petrol engine came originally from the DKW works in 1919 as a toy model engine, however the popularity of this engine saw it evolve into a motorcycle engine. Once again the nomenclature DKW seemed right on the mark as this new engine became known as Das Kliene Wunder ( The small wonder ). In 1928 Das Kliene Wunder was used in the emerging marquee's first rear wheel driven car. Three years later the firm adopted front wheel drive, which it used ever since. DKW also retained the two-stroke engine, although with substantial development.
The Auto Union group was formed during the 1930's as crisis and depression demanded amalgamation or shutdown. The partnership was between Audi, Wanderer Horch and DKW.
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