Beginning in the late fifties, the Kraftfahrzeugwerk "Ernst Grube" Werdau began work on a truck designed to replace the outmoded IFA W3 and S4000-1 models.

The truck was to have a cargo capacity of 4+1⁄2 tonnes (9,900 lb) while being able to take a variety of bodies, all-wheel drive and three axles had to be an option, production had to be simple, and it had to use a standardized engine.

[6] The site covered 170 hectares (420 acres) and the production hall complex was the largest in the DDR, with a floor area of about 130,000 m2 (1,400,000 sq ft).

[7] IWL's efforts to develop new trucks were divided again in 1971, when the most urgent needs were to improve the W 50 with a new cab, new 180 bhp engine and better chassis.

[1] The DDR needed export orders from countries outside the Comecon bloc, and for this IWL continued to develop variants of the W 50.

[9] The DDR was interested in supplying both sides in the war, so in March 1982 IWL began development of two derivative models, the IFA W 51 and W 52.

[9] Part of the W 51 project was realised, but the W 52 was overtaken by an SED Politbüro decision in June 1983 to instruct IWL to concentrate on W 50 assembly and gradually displace it with its intended next-generation successor, the L 60.

[citation needed] As required by the original brief, however, the engine was standardized: for the first two years, it was a revised version of the unit used in the IFA S4000-1: the 110 PS (81 kW) swirl chamber diesel was called "4 KVD 14,5/12".

[citation needed] All W50 trucks were fitted with a single-disc dry clutch and have a mechanically operated five-speed gearbox with synchromesh in gears 2 to 5.

[19] The L 60 was finally unveiled to the public at the Autumn Leipzig Trade Fair in September 1986 and its series production began at Ludwigsfelde in June 1987, twenty years after development work had begun.