DKW

DKW, short for Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, was a German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer founded by Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen in the early 20th century. Originally focused on steam-powered vehicles, the company shifted to petrol engines and grew into one of the largest suppliers of small, affordable cars in the 1920s and 1930s.

From 1932, DKW was one of the brands of Auto Union, a merger that grouped Horch, Wanderer, Audi, and DKW. The Auto Union logo—four interlocked rings—symbolizes these four brands. DKW became known for low-cost, front-wheel-drive, two-stroke cars that helped popularize lightweight, economical transportation in Europe and abroad. Motorcycle production also contributed to the brand's prominence, with DKW becoming one of the world's leading motorcycle manufacturers before World War II.

After World War II, West German DKW cars resumed under Auto Union and continued through the 1950s and into the 1960s. During this period the line shifted to small, two-stroke cars; however, the DKW name was gradually phased out in favor of Audi as Auto Union reorganized under the Audi banner. By the mid-1960s the DKW passenger-car brand effectively disappeared, though its legacy persisted in the Auto Union/Audi lineage.

Today the DKW name is chiefly of historical interest, noted for early mass-market, front-wheel-drive two-stroke cars and for its role in the corporate history of Auto Union, the predecessor of Audi. The DKW motorcycles, also prominent in the prewar era, are recognized as part of the brand's broader two-wheeled legacy.