Zwickau automobile plant

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VEB Automobilwerk Zwickau (EEZ)
legal form publicly-owned business
founding 1955
resolution 1958
Reason for dissolution Merger with VEB Sachsenring motor vehicle and engine works Zwickau to form VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau
Seat Zwickau , Germany
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturer

AWZ P 50 “Trabant” from the pilot series left the factory in January 1958

The VEB automobile factory Zwickau ( EEZ ) was an automobile manufacturer in Zwickau . The state-owned enterprise (VEB) emerged in 1955 from the VEB motor vehicle plant Audi Zwickau , which until 1948 belonged to Auto Union AG , Chemnitz as the " Audi plant " .

The car manufacturer AWZ, which was part of the German Vehicle Construction Association (IFA) , was merged with VEB Sachsenring Automobil- und Motorenwerke Zwickau (formerly Horch plant of Auto Union) to form VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau .

history

In contrast to the neighboring Zwickau Horch plant, the former Audi plant, founded by August Horch in 1909, was spared major damage from air raids during World War II . Like many other industrial companies in Saxony , it was forcibly expropriated due to the referendum of June 30, 1946 and largely dismantled on the instructions of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD). The DKW F8 produced there by Auto Union in the prewar period was rebuilt as the IFA F8 from 1949 , followed in 1950 by the IFA F9 , which was based on the Auto Union pre-war development DKW F9 .

Production of the IFA F8 was discontinued in 1955 in favor of the new AWZ P70 model and the “Trabant” small car, which was still in development. From November 7, 1957, the Trabant P 50 (later called the Trabant 500 ) rolled off the production line parallel to the P70 .

By resolution of the Council of Ministers of the GDR , on May 1, 1958, the two state-owned companies Automobilwerk Zwickau and Sachsenring Motor Vehicle and Engine Works were merged into VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau . As Sachsenring-Werk 2, the former EEZ was now responsible for the production of the thermoset body and final assembly and manufactured the P70 with the Sachsenring logo until 1959 and the Trabant 500 until 1962. What is hardly known, however, began here from 1956 / 58 work on a further development of the series truck. These formed the basis for the W50 truck built in Ludwigsfelde . In addition to the S4000, S4000-1 , the prototype S 4500 was created at “Sachsenring” .

Today, the August Horch Museum is located on the site of the former Audi factory .

Models

construction time model series annotation image
1949-1955 IFA F8 Resumption of the pre-war model DKW F8 . Its technology was the basis for the P70 and the Trabant. IFA F8
1950-1953 IFA F9 The pre-war plans of the DKW F9 were implemented for the F9 . In Zwickau 1,880 pieces were manufactured in various designs. From 1953, production was relocated to the Eisenach automobile plant, where it formed the basis for the Wartburg 311 . IFA F9
1955-1959 P70 "Zwickau" The P70 was the first production car with a plastic body. The floor pan was identical to that of the IFA F8 . From 1958 it was sold under the name "Sachsenring P70". AWZ P70 Coupé
Mid 1950s P 50 "Trabant" A functional model / prototype of the later Trabant P 50 Trabant P 50
1958–1962 P 50 "Trabant" The P 50 was to become the first large-scale production car in the GDR. From 1958 it was sold under the name "Trabant P 50". Trabant P 50

literature

  • Werner Lang: We Horch workers are building vehicles again . Publishing company BERGstraße, Aue 2007, ISBN 978-3-9811372-1-7 .

Web links