Steiger (automobile company)

Plans for the manufacture of tractors were abandoned in favour of automobiles; their first model, the Steiger 10/50 PS, was produced in 1920.

Its modern OHC engine was distinctive because of an overhead camshaft driven by spiral-toothed bevel gear wheels.

After the liquidation of his firm, Walther Steiger joined the Swiss automobile manufacturer Martini where he and his brother Robert had been the major shareholders since 1924.

However, these carefully and individually manufactured models could not compete in the long run with cheaper, mass-produced vehicles from Germany, France and America.

The end of a brand steeped in tradition was inevitable: on 12 June 1934 the last Martini left the factory in Saint-Blaise on Lake Neuchâtel.