Hans Gustav Röhr

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Hans Gustav Röhr (born February 10, 1895 in Krefeld - Uerdingen , † August 10, 1937 in Koblenz ) was a German designer and automobile manufacturer . In 1926 he founded his own car brand, which bore his name, but failed as an entrepreneur. He then became chief designer at Adlerwerke AG, where he designed the well-known Adler Trumpf . In 1935 he moved to Daimler-Benz AG as technical director . In August 1937, after driving a convertible, he fell ill with pneumonia with fatal outcome.

Early years and first experience with automobiles

Hans Gustav Röhr was born as the son of the owner of a lead rolling mill in Uerdingen in the Rhineland . Family affluence made it possible for him to build his own aircraft at the Rheinische Aerowerke as early as 1912, when he was only 17 years old . He built it together with his friend and later colleague Joseph Dauben. This aircraft already showed the almost visionary talent of its builder. On the eve of the First World War , when wire-braced double-deckers with in- line engines were considered the state of the art, Röhr built a monoplane structure stiffened with rods, which in the main anticipated later, self-supporting design designs. At Rheinische Aero works, he also gained a basic knowledge of building engines that were ahead of their time: Rohr put one of motorcycle cylinders self-designed five-cylinder - radial engine , a 600 hp. As the course of the war that followed, air-cooled radial engines are better suited to aircraft than other types of engines due to their lower weight and good cooling.

During the First World War, Röhr volunteered to be a fighter pilot, then, as a civilian, he switched to Priamus , a manufacturer of car and aircraft engines in Cologne-Sülz . In 1918, Röhr also made a financial contribution to Priamus and shortly afterwards presented a new radial engine with a power-to-weight ratio of less than 1 kg per hp - and that with an engine output of around 600 hp. That was world class back then. But because of the military defeat that followed at the end of 1918 , it was decided to destroy the engine so as not to let it fall into the hands of the French occupiers .

The Treaty of Versailles initially banned Germany from building any aircraft. Therefore, Röhr concentrated on the automotive industry. His first prototype , which he realized together with Joseph Dauben at Priamus-Werke in 1919, already showed clear characteristics of later designs: an advanced landing gear concept and the lightweight construction properties gained from aircraft construction. The prototype, which was intended as an inexpensive model for the masses, offered road holding that far exceeded the quality of luxury automobiles of the time.

In 1920 Röhr left the financially troubled Priamus factory and went to Berlin . There he built a second prototype, which was equipped with a hydraulic four-wheel brake. This was revolutionary in road car construction, but the brake caused problems and Röhr also recognized that the motorization was not enough to meet the growing demands of the market.

Röhr Auto AG

At the end of 1923, Hans Gustav Röhr built a third prototype, a car with a six-cylinder engine, solid swing axles and a very low center of gravity. He tried to sell this vehicle to the established automotive industry as a license model. Despite great enthusiasm, the risk was too great for many entrepreneurs. So Röhr decided to raise the necessary financial resources himself and market the car under his own name. In 1926, Röhr Auto AG was founded in Ober-Ramstadt near Darmstadt with money from the Stinnes family and the Frankfurt banking house Otto Hirsch & Co. For this purpose, the production facilities of the former Falcon automobile works were taken over . Production started in 1927 with the Röhr 8 , a model of the upper middle class with an eight-cylinder engine, 40 HP (29 kW), platform frame and, thanks to full swing axles, excellent driving characteristics. Nevertheless, the first real tube only found 100 buyers. It was probably due to the engine, which was neither particularly powerful nor very stable.

When Röhr took part in the International Motor Show in Berlin in 1928 , he had improved the somewhat unreliable engine, it got more cubic capacity and an increase in output to 50 HP (37 kW). The new vehicle model was now called Röhr 8 Type R and became the first commercial success of the new automobile manufacturer. Around 1,000 vehicles were sold from 1928 to 1930.

But in 1929 Röhr Auto AG was also hit by the downward spiral of the global economic crisis . The company, which had grown to 800 employees, lost its main shareholder Hugo Greffenius and found no new donors. The settlement procedure was opened at the end of 1930, and the company's share value fell from 3.5 to 1.4 million Reichsmarks. Shortly before, Röhr and Dauben had launched the Röhr 8 Type RA with increased engine power and some technical improvements. But the bankruptcy could no longer be stopped. Production stopped at the beginning of 1931. Röhr Auto AG was taken over by the Swiss holding company Joos Andreas Heintz with the consent of the creditors. Production was resumed in April 1931 under the name Neue Röhrwerke AG , but the 36-year-old Hans Gustav Röhr had to leave his company.

Chief designer at Adler

As early as May 1931, Röhr and Dauben found a new field of activity at the also crisis-ridden Adlerwerke in Frankfurt am Main . As chief designer and deputy board member, Röhr designed the Adler Trumpf as early as 1932 . Typical tubular features such as drop-center frame and full swing axles made the trump card a great commercial success for Adler after its presentation at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1932 . The small 1.5-liter front-wheel drive vehicle also successfully took part in long-distance competitions and mountain ratings - front-wheel drive , low center of gravity and low weight were the basis for this.

Until 1934, Röhr relentlessly pushed further models: the already existing Adler Favorit and Adler Standard 6 were revised according to his principles. The new Adler Trumpf Junior became the most successful car that Röhr ever built: Almost 103,000 units had left the Adler factory in Frankfurt am Main by 1941.

The National Socialist Reichsautobahn project changed the specifications of the German automobile designers. Stability and streamline became the watchwords of the time. Röhr began with the preparatory work for a streamlined model, but the first German streamlined production car presented by Adler in 1937, the Adler 2.5 liter “Autobahn”, was ultimately designed for Adler by Karl Jentschke . Röhr had fallen out with his employer in 1935, because he wanted to share in the license proceeds that flowed from France and Belgium for the third-party production of the Trumpf Junior .

Technical Director at Daimler-Benz

Once again as a team, Hans Gustav Röhr and Joseph Dauben found a new job at Daimler-Benz AG in Sindelfingen . Under unfavorable circumstances, Röhr became technical director via the Daimler-Benz supervisory board. His predecessor, Hans Nibel , died at the end of 1934. A replacement was urgently sought, but the Daimler-Benz board of directors under Wilhelm Kissel was initially against Röhr. His marriage to a French woman made him suspicious of the National Socialists . In addition, the wife publicly opposed the regime. Therefore, when drafting the contract with Röhr und Dauben, care was taken to ensure that the new employees did not get any insight into military projects.

In addition, Röhr made himself unpopular with the "old" Daimler-Benz designers. They were not very pleased that the “new ones” were simply presented to them. In addition to Dauben, a few other colleagues from Adler also came along. Until 1937, Röhr's team worked intensively on developing new vehicles with front-wheel drive and 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder engines . Several test vehicles have already been completed. Individually suspended wheels and self-supporting bodies were also among the special features of these prototypes. However, as early as 1936 the board decided against series production of the practically finished models. A hard blow for Röhr, who had apparently failed due to internal resentment towards him, but also due to his lack of willingness to adapt. His further path at Daimler-Benz was blocked and there was evidence in his estate that he wanted to leave this company soon anyway. But that never happened: Hans Gustav Röhr died unexpectedly on August 10, 1937 at the age of only 42. He had contracted fatal pneumonia after driving a convertible to the Nürburgring . Immediately after his death, his documents and plans were destroyed by his opponents at Daimler-Benz.

Appreciation

Hans Gustav Röhr was one of the most progressive German automobile designers. His failure didn't mean his ideas were wrong. Quite the opposite: the chassis improvements he pushed, individually suspended wheels, the lightweight construction with a low center of gravity and the front-wheel drive later proved their superiority.

Röhr actually failed due to economic and political problems of the time. As an automobile manufacturer, the global economic crisis made him fail. His extremely successful time at Adler ended with business differences. And at Daimler-Benz , he was not welcome in the design department as a newcomer with his own ideas. In addition, there was a lack of political will to adapt. Röhr never failed in his technical ideas and developments. After his death, adversaries and the Nazi leadership ensured that he should be forgotten. Most of the experts in automobile history remembered Röhr as an innovative designer.

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personal data
SURNAME Röhr, Hans Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German automobile pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Krefeld - Uerdingen , Germany
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1937
Place of death Koblenz , Germany