About Steyr
Steyr-Daimler-Puch was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria which was broken up in 1990. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names.
History
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. In 1934, Steyr merged with Puch and Austro-Daimler to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch. During the World War II the Steyr-Daimler-Puch cartel used slave labour in the German concentration camps extensively, notably in the Mauthausen-Gusen camp complex at Gusen.
Dissolution
The conglomerate was broken up in 1990, with Steyr Tractor being sold to Case Corporation, Puch's motorcycle division going to Piaggio, Steyr Mannlicher producing weapons, and Steyr's automobile production combined with Magna as Magna Steyr.
The diesel engine division was spun off into STEYR Motorentechnik GmbH, which in 2001 became an independent company, renaming itself Steyr Motors GmbH.
