Sachsenring P240

Sachsenring P240
Sachsenring P240
Overview
Manufacturer	VEB Kraftfahrzeugwerk Horch Zwickau
Also called	Horch P240
Production	1956-1959
Body and chassis
Class	Luxury car
Body style	4-door saloon; 4-door cabrio; 5-door estate
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	2407 cc Horch 6
Dimensions
Wheelbase	114 in (2,896 mm)
Length	4,736 mm (186.5 in)
Width	1,780 mm (70.1 in)
Height	1,600 mm (63.0 in)
Chronology
Predecessor	; Audi 920
Successor	Audi 100

The Horch P240 or Sachsenring P240 was a luxury car built by the VEB Kraftfahrzeugwerk Horch Zwickau in East Germany between 1955 and 1959. The P240 was the first executive car developed by the company, after the Second World War and its re-location into the Eastern Bloc, after the Soviet Union had acquired the Eastern part of Germany.

The vehicle was created using the assets of the Audi 920 and vehicles, which were the last executive cars produced by the plant, until the Second World War made clear that civilian vehicle production needed to end. The design of the P240 was partly inspired by the GAZ-21 Volga, although its B-pillar was based on the design of American cars, mostly the 1954-1956 Buick Specials.

Despite a provision issued by the Comecon, limiting the production of luxurious cars in Czechoslovakia to no more than 300 per year, Tatra was manufacturing more units than the limit. This became an issue in 1957 and 1958, especially considering East Germany was producing the Sachsenring P240 as its own luxurious car. The Comecon decided that the two countries must reach a deal to decide which country would continue production to supply the other with luxurious passenger vehicles. In 1958 the Ministries of Interior of both countries took part in trials, which the East German Minister of Machinery personally attended.

The Tatra 603 won, and subsequently East Germany's higher communist officials began to drive the T603, while lower officials had to drive imports from the USSR, mostly the GAZ-21 and GAZ-24 sedans.^[2]

Auton Union had factories both in West and East Germany, and by the 1960s, the company was renamed to Audi. In 1968 the company started producing the Audi 100 vehicles, which were similarly sized to the Sachsenring P240. Some Audi 100 were imported to East Germany by HQM Sachsenring GmbH as a replacement for the Sachsenring P240, albeit in limited numbers. Imports continued until 1986, when the company stopped importing the Audi 100 due to economical problems, but that ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, and Germany being reunified.

In 1969 the company made a prototype on a replacement for the P240 sedans, called the P 240 Repräsentant, which was based on the chassis of an Audi 100, although due to economical problems, it did not enter production.

Gallery[]

Saloon
Estate
Cabriolet
Sachsenring P240
Sachsenring P240 Saloon (side view)
Sachsenring P 240 Repräsentant (1969)

References[]

^ Horch was part of the Auto Union, which was in the mid-60s. was renamed to Audi. The next car of the same type and class after the P240 is the Audi 100.
^ M, Jára (17 August 2009). "Tatra 603 – historie, vývoj, technika, sport". jarmik.pise.cz. Retrieved 16 September 2010.

External links[]

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[1] Horch was part of the Auto Union, which was in the mid-60s. was renamed to Audi. The next car of the same type and class after the P240 is the Audi 100.

[2] M, Jára (17 August 2009). "Tatra 603 – historie, vývoj, technika, sport". jarmik.pise.cz. Retrieved 16 September 2010.

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