Thursday, August 26, 2021

EMW (Eisenacher Motorenwerk) Prototypes, Circa-1950

Following Germany's World War 2 surrender in 1945 the country's boundaries were redrawn and the resulting area was subdivited into occupation zones. The Soviet Union's zone became the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), or East Germany, in 1949.

BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) automobile production facilities in Eisenach, DDR, were marooned from the parent company and became a separate firm.  In 1952, following legal proceedings, it was named Eisenacher  Motorenwerk and produced cars with the EMW label for a few years before further name changes were made.  A brief Wikipedia entry in English is here, and from there one can link to a more detailed entry in German.

In 1949-51 three prototypes of large sedans were announced by EMW (still known as BMW at the time).  These are pictured below.

Gallery

1949 EMW 342-1 prototype
This car featured tall windows that helped reduce slab-side induced visual bulk.  The front end styling followed BMW practice.

1949 EMW 342-2 prototype
In 1949 EMW/BMW model 340s received non-traditional BMW grilles, so this car had its version.  I do not know for certain if two prototypes were built or whether the 342-2 was a facelifted 342-1.

1951 EMW 343 prototype
Again, the 342-1 body might have been facelifted to become the 343, whose front and rear differed from the 1949 designs.  The grille is kind of a mess, sporting USA style large chrome bars.  I suppose the justification of the central round element is that it incorporates the round BMW/EMW logotype.

Quasi- side view.  The sculpted elements help reduce visual bulk in German fashion.

Apologies for the poor quality of this image.  The backlight and trunk shaping differ from the earlier prototypes.

2 comments:

John Reinan said...

Wow, that second concept looks like they really drew inspiration from Buick! (If not outright plagiarizing.) And the third one is a hot mess.

emjayay said...

Not sure, but it looks like they never made an actual production car in that period that was as modern a near pontoon body as these, but first made prewar style sedans and then a new but more prewarlike model. I bet there's a book or articles somewhere explain all of it, complicated by the German E/W split.