Steyr-Daimler-Puch (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtaɪɐ ˈdaɪmlɐ ˈpʊx]) was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001.
The small but luxurious 1.5 L six Type XII of the late twenties won international motor press acclaim.
During World War II, when Austria was part of the Third Reich, Steyr-Daimler-Puch's Generaldirektor Georg Meindl de became one of the first German industrialists to suggest the use of slave labour from concentration camps to boost manpower at Steyr.
The request was approved and prisoners were brought by guarded train from the Mauthausen-Gusen camp complex at Gusen 30 km distant.
The vehicle range was for military use, including the Steyr RSO Raupenschlepper Ost with an air-cooled 3.5 L V8 engine designed by Ferdinand Porsche, who worked for the company at that time.
After the war, Steyr-Daimler-Puch built diesel engined trucks and buses, small and heavy tractors and resumed passenger car production.
Most prominent was its range of off-road cars, from the two-cylinder Haflinger and the 4 x 4 or 6 x 6 Pinzgauer, the Fiat Panda 4x4 (999 cc) to the Mercedes-Puch G. SDP was the initial designer and manufacturer of these utility vehicles.
After the war Steyr-Daimler-Puch resumed manufacturing bicycles and mopeds, gradually establishing distributors in several countries to manage their sales.
[4] Other production lines were spun off or sold outright to form independent companies, including Puch's motorcycle division going to Piaggio and Steyr Mannlicher producing weapons.
[4] Automobile production remained with Steyr-Daimler-Puch Fahrzeugtechnik (SFT) until Magna International acquired a majority holding in 1998.
[6] In 1998, the production of military vehicles was sold to an Austrian investor company, which named it Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH (SSF).