Dortmund Motor Company

Dortmund Motor Company
Information
Type	Car manufacturer
Founded	1888
Ended	1974/1980
Produced	over 350,000

Dortmund Motor Co. was a Brunanter auto manufacturer headquartered in Dortmund. It was the most successful Brunanter car company and had produced cars for over 60 years.

History

1898 Dortmund

Dortmund was founded in 1888 by Wilhelm and August Kepler as a bicycle manufacturing company. In 1898 the brothers built their first car, a simple machine using modified bicycle parts. In 1900 they built a second car (another single-cylinder) uprated to 5 3/4 HP. In 1905 they began production of this model. Dortmund was by 1920 the largest Brunanter auto manufacturer, producing twin-and 3-cylinder models and in 1921 introduced a 4 cylinder car.

In 1940 they produced their most innovative model, the rare Dortmund Type 40 Coupe.

The Dortmund Type 49 was a family car introduced in 1949. It was very small but featured modern styling, and was cheap at around $1,000 equivalent. Hundreds of these microcars were being produced and in 1957 a new model, the 57 was introduced. This one was in production until 1965 when the Type 65 and the 580/590 series was introduced. But the opening up of the car market to foreign firms in the mid 1960s led to declining sales (VW's were very popular) and in 1974 Dortmund shut down operations. That same year, Dortmund's factory and operations were taken over by the government and production of cars resumed, but a continuing drop in sales led them to shut down production for good in 1980. In total 353,125 were registered to have been sold, but many more were not and around 14,000 were exported to other countries, mostly in Europe.

Models

Microcars/Compact models

• Dortmund Type 49: 1949-1957
• Dortmund Type 57: 1957-1965
• Dortmund Type 65: 1965-1971
• Dortmund 580/590: 1965-1974
• Dortmund550/570: 1950-1962
• Dortmund Type 75 City: 1975-1980

Full-size models

• Dortmund Berline: 1922-1940, 1966-1980
• Dortmund Type 55/66: 1948-1959
• Dortmund Vitesse, 1951-1954
• Dortmund Concordia: 1956-1961
• Dortmund Type 77: 1961-1970
• Dortmund Type 75: 1971-1980

1915 Dortmund twin-cylinder

1927 Dortmund Berline 2 deuren

1955 Dortmund 49

1965 Dortmund 57 Estate

1966 Dortmund Berline

1969 Dortmund 590

Revival

In 2010 a consortium of businessmen got together and bought the rights to the Dortmund Motor Company. After much planning they began production of a small city car, inspired by the classic Type 57. This car was meant to go on sale in November 2011 but has been delayed. The model was named "E-class" (combining electric and classic) since the car has retro styling and is electric.

Eventually issues saw plans for a new Dortmund scrapped and the rights were eventually sold to Traspesian company Atenis in 2014, who is looking to revive the company. Plans are underway for a Berline saloon and a new Faxia city car. They announced in 2014 the formation of Dortmund Automobiles.

Atenis announced in November 2014 the development of a hatchback meant to slot in between Atenis' City and Spacia models. A saloon car based on the Exenia would also be produced.

Dortmund E-class