Stoewer

Native name	Gebrüder Stoewer, Fabrik für Motorfahrzeugen
Industry	Manufacture of bicycles and invalid carriages Manufacture of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production manufacture of motor vehicles manufacture of other special-purpose machinery n.e.c. metal industry
Founded	1899; 126 years ago (1899)
Founders	Emil Stoewer Bernhard Stoewer
Fate	Dissolved when its factory was dismantled and equipment sent to theSoviet Union by theRed Army followingWorld War II
Headquarters	Stettin , Germany

Stoewer was a Germanautomobile manufacturer beforeWorld War II whose headquarters were in Stettin (nowSzczecin, Poland).

The company was founded in 1858 by Bernhard Stoewer as a precision mechanical repair shop. In the same year, production ofsewing machines inStettin began. By the time of their fiftieth anniversary in the year 1908, 75,000 sewing machines and 6,000,000 typewriters had already been produced.

In 1899, the ironworks was taken over by the sons, the Stoewer brothers, Emil (lived 1873 – 1942) and Bernhard (1875 – 1937) founded the firmGebrüder Stoewer, Fabrik für Motorfahrzeugen and started to produce automobiles. Their first automobile was theGroßer Stoewer Motorwagen, with 6.5 hp (4.8 kW) and 17 km/h (11 mph) maximum speed. Stoewer is thus one of the pioneers of automobile construction in Germany.

In March 1906, the company Stoewer announced the cessation of production of chains and pedals for bicycles in order to use the factory hall for the expansion of automobile production. With the freed-up 2000 square meters, they aimed to increase vehicle production from about 100 vehicles in 1905 to about 250 vehicles in 1906.^[2]

In 1908 Stoewers constructed theStoewer G4. This model was successful for them at the time – 1070 cars were built. In 1910, Stoewer cars were built under licence byMathis of Strassburg.In 1916, the family-owned company was transformed into a limited company under the name ofStoewer-Werke AG, vormals Gebrüder Stoewer.

In the mid-20s a new class of cars was introduced: theD-Types includedD3,D9 andD10 with four-cylinder engines, as well asD5,D6 andD12 with six cylinders.Something special was the 1921D7 with a proprietary six-cylinderaero engine with 120 hp (89 kW). Of the fifty "D10" made, the only survivor was in Melbourne, Australia in original condition. It was on display at the 2014 MotorClassica. It is now in Germany.

In 1928 the company started to buildS8 andG14 models with eight-cylinder engines.At the beginning of the 1930s Stoewers delivered their highlights:G15 Gigant,M12 Marschall andP20 Repräsentant, each with eight-cylinder engines, with 60 to 120 hp (45 to 90 kW) and 130 km/h (81 mph) maximum speed.^[3] The production of these cars had to be cancelled after 2,500 vehicles being produced due to worldwide economic troubles. In 1931 Stoewer constructed one of the first cars withfront-wheel drive at all, classV5 25 hp (19 kW), 80 km/h (50 mph) maximum speed. The model namedGreif Junior was built under the licence ofTatra.^[4] Its successorV8 Greif was the last car constructed by Stoewer himself; classArkona andSedina were the last civilian cars produced by the company.

In 1936 the Stoewer factory developed the 'uniform light off-road car' (le.E.Pkw,leichter geländegängiger Einheits-PKW) for theGerman army, a versatilefour-wheel drive car, the Stoewer R200^[4] initially (until 1940) equipped withfour-wheel steering. Due to capacity-limitations, the cars also had to be produced byBMW-Factory Eisenach, as BMW 325, and byHanomag inHanover as the Type 20 B.^[4] Together the three manufacturers made a total of ca. 13,000 units. Stoewer was one of many German companies that exploited slave labour duringWorld War II and had its own camp for prisoners.^[5]After World War II, theRed Army seized the remaining production facilities, dismantled the factory and sent the equipment to theSoviet Union. The company subsequently ceased to exist.

• Einheits-PKW der Wehrmacht
• GAZ-69

• Stoewer Museum
• Documents and clippings about Stoewer in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW

• Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1896
• Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany
• History of Szczecin
• Companies of Prussia
• Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1945
• 1896 establishments in Germany
• 1945 disestablishments in Germany
• Companies involved in the Holocaust
• Companies based in Szczecin

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing German-language text
• Pages using infobox company with a logo from wikidata