Austro-Daimler
 |
|
| Public | |
| Industry | Automobile |
| Fate | Merged with Steyr Automobile (1934) |
| Successor | Steyr-Daimler-Puch |
| Founded | 1899 |
| Headquarters | Wiener Neustadt, Austria |
|
Key people
|
Eduard Bierenz, Eduard Fischer Founders |
| Products | Cars |
|
Number of employees
|
800 (1906) 4,500 (1914) |
| Website | www.austrodaimler.com |
Austro-Daimler was an Austrian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was subsidiary of the German Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG).
In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The company sold so well that also it began manufacturing the automobiles after uniting with Eduard Fischer's engineering factory. The works were located at Wiener-Neustadt. By this subsidiary DMG became the first automotive multinational in history.
Thus on August 11, 1899, the Austrian Daimler Engine Society was founded. Whilst the assembling parts stemmed from Stuttgart, in 1900 they built their first automobile which featured 2 cylinders, 4 hp (3.0 kW), and 4 seats. Soon they started producing engines for luxurious cars, trucks, buses, maritime ships, and trains.
In 1902, Paul Daimler, Gottlieb Daimler's son, took charge of the Technical Department. He developed a compact car (8 hp, 45 km/h). In 1905 he built the company's first armoured car, which had 30 hp (22 kW). Also, the company produced engines for both trucks and buses. However, Daimler returned to Stuttgart in 1905 to take over the research and development department, which had been vacated by Maybach.
Senior Ferdinand Porsche took Daimler's place as technical designer. Although Austro-Daimler cars were competing at races already, Porsche pioneered aerodynamic usage with two famous racecars (Mixte and Maya). Also, he designed the Mercédès-Electrique-Mixte which was manufactured from 1902 until 1907.
Porsche also impelled a company reformation, at a time when the company had 800 workers. The company was renamed Austro-Daimler on July 27, 1906. That same year Emil Jellinek — who was Austrian too — bought several Austro-Daimler licenses to found ancillary companies abroad.
In 1908, the Austro-Daimler began producing Zeppelin engines. Indeed, for Porsche this was a personal interest since he liked to take Archduke Franz Ferdinand flying over Vienna.
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Wikipedia