Automobilwerk Eisenach - VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach

VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach

In 1952, the Soviet owners handed the company over to the German Democratic Republic, and it became a state-owned company. By that time BMW from Munich was able to secure its tradename, logo, and typical double-nostril grille appearance, and started to produce cars again. The Eisenach company was renamed Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW), its logo being a variation of the BMW logo. EMW participated in the 1953 German Grand Prix. One year later it received its final name VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE).

The first new model had a three-cylinder two-stroke engine, the IFA 309. This was based on a DKW prototype, the F9, that was developed in 1939, but not put into production. The manufacture of models derived from pre-war BMWs, finished at the end of 1955 (see above).

In 1956, the first Wartburg (Type 311 and later the 312) was launched with a new design, but maintaining the DKW based two-stroke engine. The Wartburg 353, introduced in 1966, received a new body, but still used the two-stroke engine, now with a displacement of 1000 cc. Many new ideas were proposed by the engineers, but they were not accepted by the state authorities. Finally, in 1988, four-cylinder four-stroke engines produced by Volkswagen were introduced.

In 1945, AWE resumed production of the pre-war BMW R35 motorcycle. This became the EMW R 35 in 1952, was modified as the R35/2 and later the R35/3 with plunger rear suspension. Eisenach built just over 83,000 of the R35 and its variants before its motorcycle production ended in 1955.