1954 CIA Information Report - DKW (IFA) Car Production

Central Intelligence Agency
Country: East Germany
Date: 23 March 1954
Subject: DKW (IFA) Production
Pages: 1
Place Acquired: [redacted]

[Introduction redacted]


Production of the IFA DKW car, type F-9, had to be stopped in late November 1953, at least for the time being, because of the legal steps taken [redacted] in connection with litigation on the trade mark and patent infringements.

Comment: Auto Union GmbH had raised the litigation against the East German nationalized enterprise, IFA, over production of the IFA F9. After Germany was divided after the Second World War, Auto Union AG found itself split apart. Its factories were in East Germany and nationalized in 1948. A new company was established in the Western Zone and built up from scratch. Although the East German successor of Auto Union AG, IFA, assisted and even partly funded the new western company, political tensions between the East and West resulted in the companies turning to outright rivalry. IFA was able to restart vehicle production in 1948 and soon re-established connections with DKW sales agents outside Germany. This horrified the new DKW company but they were not able to get a vehicle into the market until 1949. IFA began exporting the F9 in 1950. DKW did not have the F9's triple cylinder engine and substituted a new version of the prewar twin-cylinder engine for their rival F89P. The two vehicles were similar, but substantially different. It was only after DKW managed to obtain a prewar triple test engine and reverse engineered it, that they were able to put their own version of the F9 on the market as the F91. The IFA F9 and DKW F91 were thus direct descendants of the 1940 DKW F9.

After initially slow production of the IFA F9, production was transferred to the Eisenach BMW plant in 1953 and earlier production defects addressed and production at pace commenced. DKW saw this as a direct threat and began raising legal challenges to block IFA sales in the west. DKW claimed patent infringement as the successor of Auto Union AG. BMW had raised similar challenges against the BMW Eisenach plant in 1952, effectively blocking the company out of the western market. For the East German companies EMW and IFA, there was no way to get a fair hearing in western courts, so both withdrew from the west. Eisenach continued manufacturing the IFA F9 for two more years but exports were directed east and north to Scandinavia. In 1955 the car was completely remodeled into the much more modern Wartburg 311, sidestepping the patent issue and reopening the door to western exports. DKW would continue with the older styled F91 and its successors through to 1964, by which time it was quite old fashioned.