The story of the Zwickau location

Our location Zwickau - 100 years automotive tradition

"Ich war stets bestrebt, nur gute und starke Wagen aus erstklassigem Material zu bauen" - August Horch

When August Horch brought vehicle building to Zwickau in 1904 a new era began for the city. It was the beginning of 100 years of eventful industrial history of automotive manufacturing. Various impacts are characteristic of Zwickau vehicle building.

Large representative passenger cars of the make Horch and Audi are famous for Zwickau. Small cars with front-wheel drive ranging from the DKW to the Trabant wrote history. The silver arrows of the Auto Union dominated racing sports in the thirties. The 16-cylinder V-type engine exceeding the legendary maximum speed of 400 km/h by Bernd Rosemeyer was breathed life into at Zwickauer Seilerstraße. "Sachsenring" continued the tradition of large representation cars in the fifties and with the "Trabant" a new type of small car emerged. With the self-supporting plastic body design Zwickau car manufacturers set milestones in the fifties. The building of the Wall in 1961 could be regarded as an end of innovation not only in automotive engineering eastside the river Elbe, since for political reasons only a few further development steps were done, if any. After the turn automotive manufacturing in Zwickau and its surroundings has increasingly gained in importance again. This impressively confirmed by the establishment of one of the most modern European production locations for automobiles in Mosel at the periphery of Zwickau. Famous suppliers and other medium-sized enterprises are also engaged at the location of Zwickau. We as PROTOMASTER feel committed to the tradition of Zwickau in automotive engineering. For us it is both challenge and stimulation to contribute by our activities to give the automotive location of Zwickau a new fame.