Dampf-Kraft Wagen (
German: steam-powered vehicle) or DKW is a historic
car and
motorcycle marque. In
1916, the
Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in
Saxony,
Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW. Although unsuccessful, he made a
two-stroke toy engine in 1919, called Des Knaben Wunsch — "a boy's desire". He also put a slightly modified version of this engine into a motorcycle and called it Das Kleine Wunder — "a little marvel". This was the real beginning of the DKW brand: by the 1930s, DKW was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer. In 1932, DKW merged with
Audi,
Horch and
Wanderer to form the
Auto Union, and all brands continued until
World War II. After the war, Auto Union changed ownership a couple of times, first passed into the hands of
Daimler-Benz in 1957, and was finally purchased by the
Volkswagen Group in 1964.
See more at Wikipedia.org...
Das Kleine Wunder :-)
Des Knaben Wunsch :-) For more possible definitions for DKW,
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