| abstract | - The company was founded as Josef und Franz Werndl and Company in 1864 as a rifle manufacturer, but became known as Steyr-Werke AG in 1924. The company began producing bicycles in 1894, and Steyr automobiles in 1915. The first Steyr cars (Type II) were heavy and well-built, if a little cumbersome; soon however it developed sports versions with an impressive list of international achievements. The small but luxurious 1.5-litre six Type XII of the late twenties won international motor press acclaim. In 1934, Steyr merged with Austro-Daimler-Puch to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch. The range produced in these years mainly consisted of very modern designs, sporting partially or complete unit construction bodies in streamlined livery, from the 1.200 ccm Steyr 50 to the 2.3 liter 220 six. During World War II Steyr-Daimler-Puch used slave labour notably in the Mauthausen-Gusen camp complex at Gusen like all other larger German companies including Mercedes-Benz and M.A.N., etc. during that time; the product range was for military use, including the Steyr RSO Raupenschlepper Ost with an air-cooled 3.5 liter V8 engine, designed by Ferdinand Porsche who worked for Steyr-Daimler-Puch at that time. After the war Steyr-Daimler-Puch built Diesel engined Steyr Trucks and buses, small and heavy Steyr Tractors and also resumed passenger car production. First Steyr assembled the Fiat 1100 E, then put their own engine in a FIAT 1400, renaming the car the "Steyr 2000". From 1957 till the early seventies it produced the tiny Puch 500 under license from FIAT, again with an engine of Austrian design. Most prominent, however, was their range of off-road cars, from the two-cylinder Haflinger and the heavy 4 x 4 or 6 x 6 Pinzgauer to the Mercedes-Puch G. The company produced a line of motorcycles and motor scooters marketed in the United States through the Sears Roebuck company. The Austro-Daimler branch built heavy tractors and trucks for the imperial Austrian army (before 1915). The main civilian agricultural tractor production started in 1947.
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