South German automobile factory Gaggenau

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Süddeutsche Automobil-Fabrik GmbH (SAF)
legal form Company with limited liability
founding 1905
resolution 1910
Reason for dissolution Conversion to Benz-Werke Gaggenau GmbH and subsequent takeover by Benz & Cie. AG
Seat Gaggenau , Germany
Branch Automobile manufacturer , bicycle manufacturer

The Süddeutsche Automobil-Fabrik , also known as "SAF" for short , in Gaggenau was a German automobile manufacturer. The company was founded in 1905 in the legal form of a GmbH , which existed until 1910 and was renamed Benz & Cie. AG rose. The production site has been retained as the Mercedes-Benz Gaggenau plant .

history

In 1894 Theodor Bergmann , previously director of Eisenwerke Gaggenau , founded Bergmann-Industriewerke in Ottenau , based in Gaggenau. In addition to numerous industrial products already offered by the ironworks, Bergmann started automobile production. From 1894 onwards, passenger cars, trucks and delivery vans as well as an 8 HP bus were manufactured according to the plans of engineers Joseph Vollmer and Franz Knecht . In 1904 a small car followed, which was offered under the Liliput brand . However, the sales success remained below expectations.

In 1904 Georg Wiß acquired the company's motor vehicle business, which in 1905 became independent as Süddeutsche Automobil-Fabrik GmbH and then primarily built commercial vehicles . Various types of buses were produced, which were successfully used in the Baden-Baden area. In 1905, SAF built the first large-capacity bus with 52 seats for a Berlin transport company. Then the first "gasoline automobile" fire engine ( fire engine ) in the world was built.

The vehicle for the first Africa crossing from Dar es Salaam to Swakopmund was built in Gaggenau in 1906 by Paul Graetz . It was created on the basis of an omnibus chassis with a body from the Berlin body factory in Neuss. The crossing lasted from 1907 to 1909 and was successful.

From 1907 military vehicles with a payload of 5 t, telegraph poles and long material transporters were also manufactured. It was exported to other European countries and Central America under the brands "Gaggenau", "SAF" and "SAG".

The SAF soon got into difficulties because of the wide range of products and the costly innovations ; the small numbers sold had used up the financial ceiling. There was a rapprochement with the Benz & Cie. in Mannheim , which intended to expand its truck production in the long term. In 1907, under the influence of the Rheinische Kreditbank , Benz & Cie. AG. Benz thus had a wide range of products at its disposal, and truck and bus construction was concentrated in the SAF plant. The number of employees in Gaggenau rose to 800.

The development resulted in the renaming of SAF to "Benz-Werke Gaggenau GmbH" (at the turn of the year 1910/1911). At times the "Benz-Gaggenau" brand was used for trucks. The Benz plant in Gaggenau has belonged to Daimler-Benz AG since 1926 and is still part of Daimler AG today .

See also

literature

  • Martin Walter: On the development of the automobile industry in the Murgtal from 1895 to 1926. In: Industrialization in the Northern Black Forest , Upper Rhine Studies, Volume 34. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-7835-6 , pp. 153–176.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Graetz : With the automobile across Africa, German National Library [1]