Today, any person who has a certain amount of money at his disposal can choose a car of about seventy different brands. And this is only if we talk about the most basic of them. A lot? Yes, certainly a lot. However, among them there is no longer a lot of really interesting manufacturers, who at the time left a huge imprint in the automotive history. About the five car brands that we have lost - read more in the collection.
1. Horch
German company Horch was founded by August Horch at the dawn of the automotive industry - in 1899. And a year later, the first model of the brand was released - Horch 4-15 PS. In the period from 1930 to 1940, the company was part of the Auto Union concern. It also included such brands as Wanderer, DKW and the well-known Audi. The Auto Union emblem was four rings, each of which symbolized one brand.
According to the Auto Union hierarchy, Horch was positioned as a premium car manufacturer. And this image of the car under the brand Horch was fully consistent. Everything was there: breathtaking appearance, chic interior and powerful engine. The Horch 853 Voll & Ruhrbeck Sport Cabriolet was the only one worth making. There is little information about how and for what purpose it was created. What can be said for sure is that this convertible is a real work of art. Unfortunately, after the war, the Horch company in Zwickau found itself in the Soviet occupation zone, and then in the GDR and already in the 1950s was engaged in the production of trucks.
This is how the story of one of the brightest automobile manufacturers of the beginning of the 20th century ended. As for the other members of the Auto Union concern, only Audi company remained, which has appropriated the famous "rings" of the brand and today is one of the largest automakers in the world.
2. DeLorean Motor Company
During its existence, DeLorean Motor Company produced only one car, which turned out to be very beautiful, but absolutely damp in technical terms. Nevertheless, this car is known to everyone who is at least a little familiar with the world pop culture. We are talking about DeLorean DMC-12 - a legendary "time machine" from no less legendary trilogy of Robert Zemekis "Back to the future". If the car sparkled with all the colors of its charisma on the screen, in real life it was constantly haunted by problems. Production of the car began in 1981 at a factory in Northern Ireland.
The supercar produced in Northern Ireland sounds far from being a synonym for quality. So it came out. The workers at the plant had low qualification, which resulted in huge quality problems. The engine in the car for nothing, which was a V-shaped "six", gave out only 130 hp and dispersed it to 100 km / h in 10.3 seconds - not on a supercarovski. The cost of the car was quite expensive. All this led to the closure of production in 1983. By that time we had managed to collect 9000 cars.
But still, despite the fact that DeLorean DMC-12 left a dubious imprint in the automobile history, it managed to get in the heart of every 12-year-old boy who watched the adventures of Marty McFly and dock Emmett Brown. And this was not every supercar, no matter how technological and successful it was.
3. Saab
The Saab brand was founded in 1945 as a division of the company, which was engaged in the construction of military aircraft. Saab engineers managed to become pioneers in many ways. For example, it was the first time that turbocharging and direct injection were used on this brand of vehicles. In addition to its manufacturability Saab vehicles were also known for their durability and safety. The Swedes already in the early 90's paid great attention to these issues, conducting piles of crash-tests of their cars. In 2000, the concern GM bought all the shares of the brand. And from that moment on, a series of failures began, leading to the complete bankruptcy of the company and its withdrawal from the market in 2012.
4. De Tomaso
De Tomaso was founded in 1959 by former driver Alejandro de Tomaso, who could not imagine his life without cars and motorsports. This determined the future of the company. At the beginning of its existence, De Tomaso produced racing cars for Formula 1, in particular for the Williams team. However, they showed themselves not from the best side and a year later the cooperation stopped, and De Thomaso began to produce road cars, but, of course, with a sports bias. The first car of the brand was De Tomaso Vallelunga, which turned out to be quite beautiful, and very light. But it was overtaken by quality problems. Things were better with the next machine.
It was Mangusta, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. And this design was the right one - the car looked amazing. Earlier Novate.ru wrote about cars with the best design. A distinctive feature of the car was a very rich set of equipment. It had electric windows and air conditioner, which was unthinkable for 1967.
They say that "Mangosteen" was called the car in the peak by its main competitor - Shelby Cobra. The mongoose can kill a cobra. The most successful and at the same time the last model of the brand was Panthera, which was produced since 1985 and put an end to the history of the legendary brand in 1991.