By the 1920s, the market for steam road vehicles was in terminal decline, and Hanomag looked to cars as the future, particularly economy models.

Although made in large numbers, 15,775 in total, it did not make much money for the company and in the late 1920s the railway locomotive division was sold to Henschel & Son of Kassel.

Things improved in 1930 and the company got 14 per cent of the domestic car market, second place behind Opel, but in 1931 a new crisis came when the banks called in a loan.

The factory was mortgaged to Hannover City and the Vereinigte Stahlwerke trust and the company relaunched as Hanomag Automobil und Schlepperbau GmbH.

The Hanomag 20 B, a four-wheel-drive Small Unit-Personnel Carrier was produced from 1937 until 1940 (circa 2000 built) under the parentage of Stoewer (as the R180, R200 and Type 40).

Operating a "lock-level" between the front seats, made the steerable rear axle turn sideways to a certain angle.

[5] The single most important and iconic military vehicle to be designed and built by Hanomag during World War II was the Sd.Kfz.

251 was slower and lower-powered, but with thicker, sloping side armour provided better protection; the flat-sided M3 was, at one point, panned as the "Purple Heart Box" for being unable to stop 7.92mm Mauser bullets at close range, while the Hanomag's sloping side armour deflected Allied bullets with no similar issue.

In Hanover, the company develops construction machines which meet varied requirements of customers all over Europe as well as for certain products also worldwide.

In 1960, Cura Hnos began to build a billet factory from an electric furnace on the premises, which he later suspended for associating with Rheinstahl Hanomag, from Germany, to manufacture tractors.