The world’s first truck

However, long-distance transport remained the domain of the railways for a long time to come. The distribution of labor at a time when the truck was still in its infancy was like this: while the railways linked the industrial centers with each other, traditional horse-drawn carts and trucks distributed goods to smaller towns and villages. For the time being, truck sales developed rather leisurely. By 1901, there were as many as 16 manufacturers in the German Reich, but between themselves, they produced just 39 units in that year. From then on, however, the truck gained momentum. Truck production figures of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) rose to 140 units in 1903, for instance, and exceeded the 1,000-unit mark in 1910.

Nevertheless, it was not before the second decade of the 20th century that the commercial vehicle industry experienced a first veritable boom. This was not triggered by economic developments but by politics: from 1908 trucks were subsidized to create a reserve fleet for the German Army – to be drafted should the worst come to the worst. The armed forces paid a purchase premium of 4,000 Reichsmarks and a premium of up to 1,000 Reichsmarks as a contribution to the operating costs (for up to four years) to buyers of civilian trucks who were prepared to make their trucks available to the army in the case of war.

First boom starting in 1914

The army had issued clear and binding specifications for these subsidized trucks. Subsidies were paid only for four- to six-ton trucks with trailers and gasoline engines which generated at least 30 hp. Other conditions: chain drive, a track width of 1,700 millimeters, drum brakes and a top speed of 12 km/h with iron-clad wheels or 16 km/h with rubber tires.

As a result, production figures skyrocketed – especially during World War I. Whereas new registrations in the German Reich amounted to just 1,543 units in 1908, they had risen by as much as 625 percent to 9,639 units in 1914. And during the four war years, the German truck industry turned out over 40,000 vehicles, despite ever greater difficulties in obtaining raw materials.

However, this was accompanied by a certain degree of stagnation in technical development. And the boom during the war year became a boomerang after the end of the war: exports collapsed, and the market was congested by used trucks. There was virtually no demand for new vehicles. It was not before the 1930s that commercial vehicle engineering reached the required degree of maturity for trucks to become serious competitors for the railways over longer distances.