Robur (truck)
Robur was a marque of the Volkseigener Betrieb VEB Robur-Werke Zittau of East Germany (GDR). It mainly produced 3-ton trucks. The vehicles were produced in the town of Zittau in what now is South-East Saxony. Until 1946, company produced under the marque Phänomen (English: Phenomenon), and until 1957 under the name VEB Phänomen Zittau.
In 1888, Karl Gustav Hiller founded a company for the distribution of a machine for the production of pom-pons that he had invented and would receive a patent for in 1894. On a trip to England he obtained an exclusive license to import and build Rover Safety Bicycles. He became shareholder and later owner of the Zittau machine factory "Müller & Preußger", refined the Rover bicycles and began to distribute them under the name "Phänomen-Rover" in 1894. In 1900 the company began to produce Phänomen motorcycles. At first the motorcycles were fitted with Fafnir engines, but from 1903 onwards single-cylinder four-stroke engines of Phänomen design were used. This change of engine necessitated a strengthening of the bike frame and a change of wheels. Now 26-inch wheels with 2 1⁄4-inch tires were used. Permanent improvements led to the development of a two-cylinder engine.
In 1905 the company began the mass production of the three-wheeled Phänomobil. The two-cylinder engine used in motorbikes was used here as well. Similarities in construction with Berlin-made three-wheeler Cyklonette of Cyklon, led to arguments over patent infringement, especially as the engineers had worked for Hiller's company. A twin-fan-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke engine was used in the vehicles from 1910, production running until 1927. Between 1912 and 1927 the company, by now known as "Aktiengesellschaft Phänomen-Werke Gustav Hiller", offered four-wheeled cars that could not establish themselves in the market. The coachwork was done by the "Karosseriewerk August Nowack AG" in Bautzen.
By request of the Reichspost for a cheap, safe and capable vehicle, the company introduced its 4 RL truck that could carry loads between 0.75 and 1 tons. The basis for this model was the four-cylinder engine used in the Phänomobil. As demand for higher payloads increased, the company brought the Granit 25 (1.5 tons) and Granit 30 (2.5 tons) trucks into production in 1931 and 1936, respectively. With the increasing arms production in Nazi Germany the product portfolio was reduced to the Granit 1500 model (called Granit 27 after the war) with a payload of 1.5 tons.
...
Wikipedia