In 1960 DKW developed a V6 engine by combining two three cylinder two-stroke engines giving a single V6 engine with a capacity of 1, 000 cc.

About 100 V6 engines were built for testing purposes and 13 DKW F102 as well as some Mungas were fitted with the V6 engine in the 1960s.

The transition to four-stroke engines marked the end of the DKW marque for passenger cars.

A number of mainstream automobile manufacturers have used two-stroke engines in the past, including the Swedish Saab and German manufacturers DKW and Auto-Union.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Saab 93, Saab 95, Saab 96, and certain DKW automobiles were powered by inline-three-cylinder, two-stroke engines.

The Audi F103 series, based on the DKW F102 but with an all new range of four-stroke engines developed in conjunction with Daimler-Benz, sold between 1965 and 1972, comprised several models named for their horsepower ratings.

Image: AutoUnion ( DKW ) 1000 ( registered 1965 ) right. jpg | Longitudinally front-mounted engine, front-wheel drive ( FF longitudinal layout ): The Auto Union 1000, ( today Audi ) longitudinal layout superseded the DKW F89 front transverse engines in the 1950s.

This time the cars and vans were three-wheelers powered by DKW engines driving the single front wheel.

DKW cars were made from 1928 until 1966.

An assembly plant was licenced in Ireland between 1952 and c. 1964 and roughly 4, 000 DKW vehicles were assembled ranging from saloons, vans, motorbikes to commercial combine harvesters.

From 1956 to 1967, DKW cars were made in Brazil by the local company Vemag ( Veículos e Máquinas Agrícolas S. A .).

DKW vehicles were also made in Argentina from 1960 through 1969 by IASF S. A. ( Industria Automotriz Santa Fe Sociedad Anónima ) in the city of Sauce Viejo, Santa Fe.

The first engine and gearbox came from a DKW vehicle, but they were later replaced with an engine and gearbox designed by Gunnar Ljungström.

Also, some DKW Munga, a Jeep like vehicle used in the German army were retrofitted with this Ford V4, to replace its standard two-stroke engine.

Others manufacturers, including the big names of Vauxhall, Jaguar, Austin and Auto-Union DKW were also represented on the street in the first decades of the last century.

However, in the 1950s the larger sedan deliveries were replaced by vans like the Volkswagen Type 2, the DKW van and the first-generation Ford Transit.

The first successful transverse-engine cars were the two-cylinder DKW " Front " series of cars, which first appeared in 1931.

Both companies from Zwickau ( Horch and Audi ) were unified in 1932 with DKW and Wanderer to Saxony's Auto Union corporation.

Due to widespread poverty in postwar Germany, only small DKW vehicles were produced.

The V6 was planned to be used in the DKW Munga and the F102.

Wartburg, a GDR manufacturer of larger saloons, also used a DKW engine: a water-cooled 3 cylinder two-stroke unit, also found in later Saab cars until the late sixties.

Also in Britain, Norton Motorcycles developed a Wankel rotary engine for motorcycles, based on the Sachs air-cooled Wankel that powered the DKW / Hercules W-2000 motorcycle, which was included in their Commander and F1 ; Suzuki also made a production motorcycle with a Wankel engine, the RE-5, where they used ferrotic alloy apex seals and an NSU rotor in a successful attempt to prolong the engine's life.

The P50 used a DKW engine which gave it a top speed of approximately, and was equipped with a three-speed manual transmission that had no reverse gear.

This was the real beginning of the DKW brand: by the 1930s, DKW was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer.

The last version of the Auto Union Combi / Pick-up ( DKW F1000 L ) launched in 1969, survives a few months and is bought out by IME which continued production until 1979.

This had a complete powered rear wheel which was simply substituted for the bicycle rear wheel, which originated from a design by two DKW engineers in Germany.

* 1917 invented the Dampf-Kraft-Wagen ( DKW ) ( German for steam-powered car ) also known by its trademark DKW

Shown at right is the layout of a two-stroke engine similar to the one developed by engineer Kurt Bang at the Prüssing Office on the basis of the prewar DKW race engine.

Originally the B1000 was powered by the 45 horsepower three cylinder, two stroke DKW derived engine found also in contemporary Wartburgs.

" GT Malzoni-made by Genaro " Rino " Malzoni, over a DKW chassis.

Also that year German motorcycle manufacturer DKW launched their first car, the P15, a rear-wheel-drive, wood-and-fabric bodied monocoque car, powered by a 600 cc an inline two-cylinder two-stroke engine.

The RT 125 is a German two-stroke motorcycle made by DKW in Zschopau in the 1930s, IFA and MZ in the 1950s and early 1960s, and DKW in Ingolstadt in the 1950s and 1960s.

In East Germany the machine was made at the original DKW factory by IFA, which later became MZ and Japan also produced copies.

Nichols switched to a two-stroke DKW engine supplied by Gerhard Mitter.

In 1928, the company was acquired by Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, owner of DKW ( from the German Dampfkraftwagen, or steam engine vehicle ) who had bought the remains of the US automobile manufacturer Rickenbacker in the same year.

Panhard of France, DKW of Germany and Saab of Sweden offered exclusively front-wheel-drive cars, starting with the 1948 Saab 92.

Early cars using the FF layout include the 1929 Cord L-29, 1931 DKW F1, the 1948 Citroën 2CV, 1949 Saab 92 and the 1959 Mini.

The Saab 92 had a transversely mounted, water-cooled two-cylinder, two-strokebased on a DKW design, driving the front wheels.

This made DKW the most winning car brand in the European rally league for several years during the fifties.

The last DKW was the F102 coming into production in 1964 as a replacement for the somewhat old-looking AU1000.

Zschopau is famous for its motorcycle industry, particularly the DKW and MZ Motorrad-und Zweiradwerk GmbH brands, and the toy business VEB Plasticart.

The company became the American importer for Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, and DKW automobiles and many Studebaker dealers sold those brands as well.

The then nearly new Auto Union plant at Ingolstadt, built under Mercedes ownership and control, was quickly adapted for Beetle assembly: Volkswagen boss Heinrich Nordhoff, mindful of the poor sales record of the DKW F102, and at a time when the new Audi F103 had yet to prove itself in the market place, gave instructions that no further new Auto Union ( including Audi ) models should be developed.

It wasn't until the 1955 change to 360 cc as the upper limit for two-strokes as well as four-strokes that the class really began taking off, with cars from Suzuki Suzulight ( front-wheel drive based on the German Lloyd with a DKW type engine ) and then Subaru 360, finally able to fill people's need for basic transportation without being too severely compromised.

In 1929, Josef Ganz started contacting German motorcycle manufacturers Zündapp, Ardie and DKW for collaboration to build a prototype, small people's car.

After a demonstration of the capability of the DKW RT 100, the War Department ordered a military version of the RE, designated the WD / RE, for use with airborne troops.

Meanwhile, DKW had reorganized itself in Ingolstadt, where it began production of the RT 125W ( for " West ") in 1949.