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Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft AG (NAG)

logo
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1901
resolution 1930
Reason for dissolution Merger with Büssing AG to form Büssing-NAG Vereinigte Nutzkraftwagenwerke AG
Seat Berlin-Oberschöneweide , Germany
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturer , rail vehicle manufacturer

The New Automobile Company Ltd , also NOS or NOS called and in 1915 National Automobile Company changed its name, in the first third of the 20th century was a large automobile - and commercial vehicle producer in oberschöneweide , Ostendstraße 1-6. After economic difficulties , NAG merged with Büssing in 1930 to form Büssing-NAG Vereinigte Nutzkraftwagenwerke AG .

Company history

In the years around 1900, the AEG founder Emil Rathenau began to be interested in automobile construction and especially in the so-called Klingenberg car , which from 1900 onwards from the Allgemeine Automobil-Gesellschaft Berlin (AAG) as a design by Georg Klingenberg ( TH Charlottenburg ) was built. The AAG was founded in 1899 and acted as a sales company for the electric vehicles of Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft, formerly Schuckert & Co. in Nuremberg.

The 1915 built and 1917 Behrensbau in oberschöneweide stands since the 1980s under monument protection
Partial bond for 2000 marks of the National Automobile Society AG from July 1922

Due to his own automobile construction, Emil Rathenau and his son, AEG director Walther Rathenau , were able to create a new company in 1901 in the mechanical workshop of the AEG cable works Oberspree (KWO) under the name Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft AG (NAG). The Allgemeine Automobil-Gesellschaft Berlin (AAG) was taken over by AEG in 1901 and entered in the commercial register as NAG in December 1901. In 1902, Kühlstein -Wagenbau ( City of Charlottenburg ) took over the automotive department with its technical director Joseph Vollmer .

A critical voice about 63-year-old Emil Rathenau said at the time: “ Rathenau is no longer the same. The clarity begins to fade from him. He is enthusiastic about the car and its future, sees all the streets covered with cars and the horses harnessed from the trucks and plows. In short, he has become confused. "

In what was then the rural community of Oberschöneweide, a factory building for NAG was built in 1915–1917 according to plans by Peter Behrens at Ostendstrasse 1–4. The Behrensbau stands since the 1980s under monument protection .

The production machines and the 600 skilled workers from the Berlin company AAG and Kühlstein-Werke, which had just been acquired, were brought into NAG. Carl Grossi became director, from 1914 Heinz Junk for the 1200 employees. Engines, luxury and delivery vans were built, and from 1903 also trucks and buses . The plans were drawn up by Georg Klingenberg and Joseph Vollmer. For cost reasons, NAG was merged with AEG in 1908, but the individual names remained. Out of patriotism , the company was renamed from Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft AG to Nationale Automobil-Gesellschaft AG in 1915 . In the same year the Nationale Automobil-Gesellschaft AG was founded as a sales company for its own commercial vehicles.

The engineer Sigmund Meyer founded the Kartell Gemeinschaft Deutscher Automobilfabriken (GDA) together with Brennabor , Hansa-Lloyd and Hansa in 1919 , which was later joined by Helios and the Hannoversche Waggonfabrik (Hawa). A certain type coordination of the manufacturers took place until the beginning of the 1920s, the GDA founded as a sales company was dissolved again in 1929.

In 1926, NAG issued licenses to reproduce commercial vehicles in Hungary , but the AEG subsidiary NAG encountered economic difficulties for the first time. In mid-1927, NAG took over the Protos brand , the automotive division of Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, and used the NAG-Protos brand name for Protos-based models. A little later, the company management incorporated Presto , which had shortly before taken over Dux . The brand name of the models based on the Presto vehicles was NAG-Presto .

In 1930, NAG had lost the process for building a semi-trailer . Although NAG was directly behind Daimler-Benz in terms of numbers for the large truck types , the commercial vehicle factory was not able to operate profitably. The lost process and the company acquisitions by Dux-Presto, Protos, had no longer been able to post a profit. In the commercial vehicle sector, the contract of October 11, 1930 resulted in the establishment of Büssing-NAG , Vereinigte Nutzkraftwagen AG , based in Braunschweig, on January 1, 1931 . The truck construction in Berlin-Oberschöneweide was stopped in 1931 and only cars were built there. At the end of 1932, Büssing AG took over the entire department of the AEG commercial vehicle subsidiary NAG; This existed in the company name as Büssing-NAG until 1949. The Dux Presto works were sold to Auto Union in 1934 . The main NAG building (Behrensbau) from 1915 was a Büssing-NAG branch during the Nazi era ; In addition, AEG and its subsidiary Telefunken produced special electron tubes there under the name Röhrenfabrik Oberspree (RFO) . After 1945 the owners were expropriated and the production facility initially came under the responsibility of the Soviet occupying power , which returned it to the GDR in 1952 . Telecommunications technology products were created in the rooms . The company name changed in 1955 to the plant for telecommunications technology (later the plant for television electronics ).

Car production

NAG (1908)
NAG (1908)
NAG-Protos, type 208 (1930)

In 1902, under the technical director Joseph Vollmer, the production of the car type A with two-cylinder engine, 10  HP power and cardan drive and the type B with four-cylinder engine, 20 HP and chain drive , which were already equipped with the round coolers typical of NAG, began. In October 1903, NAG director Carl Gossi won a race on the Westend trotting track in Berlin in a two-cylinder car, ahead of Director Maurer on a Maurer Union car .

Soon NAG also started producing taxis (powerhouses) for ABG, the Automobil-Betriebs-Gesellschaft mbH , an AEG foundation that had around 250 taxis in operation in Berlin.

In 1905, a 40 hp four-cylinder car with chain drive was added. In 1907, NAG presented the first electric vehicles, which were mainly used as taxis. At the beginning of 1914, 189 electric cabs drove in AEG's own Automobil-Betriebs-AG in Berlin, along with 100 others in other companies.

In 1908 the models K 6 and K 8 , performance-enhanced four-cylinder models and the small K 2 puck with 1570  cm³ displacement appeared . During this time, the NAG double-decker omnibuses with cardan drive were also delivered to Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus AG (ABOAG) and the Große Berliner Motor-Omnibus Gesellschaft .

Advertisement for the Darling (1910)

By the First World War , NAG had brought an extensive range of models onto the market, such as the K 2 Darling , which replaced the puck . New models were the K 3 and K 5 with block engines and 2071 cm³ and 3370 cm³ displacement and 8/22 hp and 13/35 hp respectively. The models K 4 with 10/30 hp, the K 6 with 20/55 hp and 8 liter displacement and the top model K 8 with 9 liter displacement and 33/75 HP should also be mentioned. There were also some sporting successes with these cars.

The type adjustment at NAG meant that in 1921 only the new C 4 was offered, a four-cylinder with 2536 cm³ and 10/30 hp. The designer of this car was Christian Riecken , who previously worked for Métallurgique and Minerva . Riecken drove a performance-enhanced C 4 b at the first AVUS race in 1921, which was then still called the Grunewald race, to class victory with an average speed of 130  km / h . In 1922 there was a three-time class victory for NAG.

On 14./15. June 1924 Riecken and Berthold fielded a C 4 b at the Grand Prix for touring cars , a 24-hour race in Monza. The distance of 2583 km was covered in 24 hours, which corresponds to an average speed of 107.5 km / h. That meant victory, and the C 4 b was named Monza .

At the German Grand Prix on the Avus in 1926, Riecken achieved his greatest success when he took second place in the overall classification after Rudolf Caracciola in an eight-cylinder Mercedes with a C 4 m . Later there were some successes with NAG racing cars in private hands, but the big victories were over.

Riecken still designed the D 4 and D 6 models before he left NAG. There were four and six cylinder models with 2.6 and 3.1 liters displacement, an output of 40 and 63 hp and modern designs with hanging valves in the removable cylinder head.

At the end of 1927, two new six-cylinder models 201 and 204 appeared from the pen of the new designer Lienhardt to meet the competition from America. These cars with engines of 3075 cm³ and 60 HP as well as 3594 cm³ and 70 HP had the NAG automatic clutch. The trade press wrote about this automatic clutch mechanism of "epochal importance" and about the "Egg of Columbus". This was followed by the 207 model with 3963 cc displacement and, otherwise identical, but with a shorter wheelbase, the 208 model .

In 1931 the model 218 , the first German production car with a V8 engine, was presented at the Berlin exhibition , but without any great commercial success. In the same year the 212 model followed , the V8 model with front-wheel drive , central tubular frame and independent wheel suspension . However, this did not go into series production.

In 1933 the NAG- Voran came on the market with a fan-cooled 1.5-liter boxer engine , independent wheel suspension and self-supporting body, albeit much too late. The price in 1934 was 3300  Reichsmarks (RM) and thus 50 RM above the 1.3 liter Opel and the 1.7 liter six-cylinder Hansa . 164 cars of this type were sold in 1933, and around 250 a year later. However, these numbers were too low for the company to continue, so that NAG went bankrupt . In 1935, NAG was nothing more than history as the automotive division of AEG.

Car model overview 1904–1934

Type Construction period cylinder Displacement power Top speed (Vmax)
Type B (20/24 hp) 1904/1905 4 row 5193 cc 24 hp (17.6 kW) 65 km / h
Type B2 (29/55 hp) 1905-1908 4 row 7963 cc 55 HP (40 kW) 90 km / h
Type AC4 (10/18 HP) 1907-1909 4 row 2799 cc 18 hp (13.2 kW) 55 km / h
Type N2 puck (6/12 PS) 1908-1911 4 row 1502 cc 12 HP (8.8 kW) 55 km / h
Type K2 Darling (6/18 HP) 1911-1914 4 row 1466 cc 18 hp (13.2 kW) 65 km / h
Type K3 (8/22 HP) 1912-1914 4 row 2085 cc 22 hp (16.2 kW) 70 km / h
Type K5 (13/55 HP) 1912-1914 4 row 3308 cc 55 HP (40 kW) 90 km / h
Type K8 (33/75 HP) 1912-1914 4 row 8495 cc 75 hp (55 kW) 110 km / h
Type K4 (10/30 HP) 1914-1919 4 row 2597 cc 30 HP (22 kW) 75 km / h
Type C4 (10/30 HP) 1920-1924 4 row 2553 cc 30 HP (22 kW) 75 km / h
Type C4b (10/40 PS / 10/45 PS) 1922-1924 4 row 2553 cc 40–45 hp (29–33 kW) 100 km / h
Type D4 (10/45 HP) 1924-1927 4 row 2598 cc 45 hp (33 kW) 90 km / h
Type C4m (10/50 HP) 1925/1926 4 row 2614 cc 50 HP (37 kW) 120 km / h
Type D6 (12/60 HP) 1926-1928 6 row 3075 cc 60 hp (44 kW) 90 km / h
Type D7 (14/70 hp) 1927/1928 6 row 3594 cc 70 hp (51 kW) 90 km / h
Type 201 (12/60 hp) 1928-1930 6 row 3075 cc 60 hp (44 kW) 95 km / h
Type 204 (14/70 hp) 1928-1930 6 row 3594 cc 70 hp (51 kW) 95 km / h
Type 207 (16/80 hp) 1930-1933 6 row 3963 cc 80 hp (59 kW) 100 km / h
Type 208 (16/80 hp) 1930-1933 6 row 3963 cc 80 hp (59 kW) 110 km / h
V8 type 218 (18/100 hp) 1931-1934 8 V 4508 cc 100 hp (74 kW) 110 km / h
V8 type 219 (18/100 hp) 1931-1934 8 V 4508 cc 100 hp (74 kW) 120 km / h
Voran type 220 (6/30 hp) 1933/1934 4 boxers 1484 cc 30 HP (22 kW) 75-85 km / h

New registrations of NAG cars in the German Reich from 1933 to 1938

year Registration numbers
1933 216
1934 224
1935
1936 3
1937 1
1938

Source:

Commercial vehicle production

NAG Through -Lastzug (1903)
(constructed by Kühlstein and Joseph Vollmer )
NAG truck 45 HP (1913) in Berlin during the mobilization in 1914

The automobile factory NAG produced the first trucks and buses from 1903 . Joseph Vollmer developed the plans for the trucks . Almost all parts, including the wheels and tires, were manufactured in-house on machines that were modern at the time. The first trucks with two- and four-cylinder engines up to 18 hp and four types with a payload of 2 t to 6 t were also built in large halls  . Also in 1903, NAG built a heavy forward control truck tractor with two trailers and thus the first truck in the world, designed by Josef Vollmer.

From 1906 double-decker omnibuses with 26–32 hp were produced. a. for the Berlin bus companies ABOAG were built and a few years later in the Export example of Vienna into what was then Austria-Hungary went. In 1907 trucks with up to 45 hp were built in three types with 3, 4 and 6 t payload, which could reach speeds of up to 16 km / h. They had a leather cone clutch, four-speed gearbox, cardan drive and a mountain support. In addition to the truck engines, boat engines were also manufactured in large numbers. Electric vehicles were built based on patents from the Stoll company. The construction of electric trucks remained only one episode in the period 1911–1913.

More and more war-related products such as trucks and tractors were manufactured, and in 1912 the 3.5- and 5-ton trucks were built in large series for the army command. The truck type ( B 07 17 ) with a 3.5 t payload as a regular three -tonne truck had 32 hp and the 5-ton truck type ( S 8 5 ) and the omnibus type (FO 8) were equipped with a 45 hp engine . The omnibus type was also available as a fire engine . Furthermore, other armaments and aircraft engines were manufactured.

After the end of the First World War and the phasing out of war products, newly developed truck models were used from 1921. In both types built at the time, the engine and gearbox were installed separately and could also be ordered with pneumatic tires. The 3-tonner received a 40 hp engine and the 5-tonner received a seven-speed gearbox . The vehicles were fitted with long-timber, bottled beer, furniture and tipper bodies, as well as with bus bodies. The large oval NAG radiator grille was typical .

It was not until 1922 that the truck was followed by a six-cylinder engine with 63 hp, which was also installed in the 32-passenger omnibus type. In 1925, four- and six-cylinder engines were manufactured as standard engines. Completely new for NAG was a tractor unit with a front axle set far back and a trailer for a payload of 10 t, which was also known as a large area wagon . The semi-trailer construction of Orenstein & Koppel (O & K) as the bus could carry 60 people. For the first time, the transmission was equipped with a Knorr compressed air circuit. The system of the fifth wheel coupling mechanism, however, violated the patent of Thilo Kipping from Pirna , who built the Oekonom trucks as articulated lorries and triggered a complex legal process. Up to 100 people could be transported in the new double-decker bus; it had an additional electric gearbox. At that time, six-wheel buses and trucks with a payload of 10 t were also built. In 1927 the six-cylinder engine got 105 hp, then in 1928 120 hp, the output could later be increased to 160 hp.

With the takeover of the Dux - Presto works in 1928, light truck types were also built as express trucks with 1.5 to 2.5 t (large delivery vans ) and could also be ordered as three-axle vehicles with a tag axle. This violated the Association of German Automobile Manufacturers GDA regulations, which was another reason why the commercial vehicle sales community soon dissolved. In order to sell the truck with a diesel engine , “ Deutz engines” were mainly installed in the high-speed trucks .

Despite large numbers of items, commercial vehicle construction was no longer profitable, which is why in 1930 a merger with Büssing to form the joint venture Büssing-NAG Vereinigte Nutzkraftwagenwerke AG . In 1932, NAG's large trucks and buses were still equipped with Maybach V12 engines. The production of the semi-trailer type, also known as the universal tractor, had to be stopped because NAG had lost the kipping process. The engine department for the development of 4, 6 and 12 cylinder NAG engines was closed in 1934.

literature

  • Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin-Oberschöneweide: NAG , [1901–1911], Berlin, Eckstein, [1911] (company publication for the tenth anniversary).
  • Automuseum Nettelstedt (Ed.): Automobile Chronicle , Issue 6 and 7/1972. Uhle & Kleimann oHG, Lübbecke 1972.
  • MAN Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH (Ed.), Helmuth Albrecht: H. Büssing. Man, work, inheritance . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1986, ISBN 3-525-13175-5 , p. 172 f.
  • Wolfgang H. Gebhardt: History of the German truck construction . Weltbild-Verlag, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-811-2 (Volume 1, Volume 2a and Volume 2b).
  • Halwart Schrader : German Cars 1885–1920 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02211-7 .
  • Werner Oswald : German Cars 1920–1945 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02170-6 .

Web links

Commons : NAG vehicles  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The History of German Truck Construction , Volume 1, pp. 126–129.
  2. ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
  3. ↑ The history of German truck construction , Volume 1, pp. 126–131
  4. ↑ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß:  Meyer, Sigmund (called Hans Sigismund). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 373 f. ( Digitized version ).
  5. ↑ The history of German truck construction , Volume 2a, p. 8.
  6. ↑ The history of German truck construction , Volume 2b, pp. 133–135.
  7. ↑ Oberschöneweide> Ostendstrasse 1–5 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1935, IV.
  8. ↑ Information on the NAG building from the program Mysterious Places - Berlin-Oberschöneweide , broadcast in autumn 2016 on rbb .
  9. ^ Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 328 .
  10. ↑ No. 18 A Century of Automotive Technology - Commercial Vehicles, p. 271
  11. ↑ a b The history of German truck construction , Volume 1, p. 129.
  12. ^ Commercial vehicles from DaimlerChrysler, p. 20.
  13. ^ The History of German Truck Construction , Volume 1, p. 131.
  14. ^ The history of German truck construction , Volume 2b, pp. 130/131.
  15. ↑ The history of German truck construction , Volume 2b, pp. 132–135
  16. ^ The history of German truck construction , Volume 2b, pp. 137/138.