Maybach-Motorenbau

Maybach-Motorenbau was a German engine and car maker founded on 23 March 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin at Bissingen an der Enz under the name Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau, which it kept until 1918. It moved to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance in 1912 and was run by Wilhelm Maybach's eldest son Karl. It first built engines for Zeppelin airships and, once the Versailles treaty banned airship and aircraft work, turned to cars, building only about 2,300 Maybach vehicles in roughly twenty years until 1941. It also made diesel engines for railcars and locomotives and, in the Second World War, the HL-series petrol engines used in most German tanks. Daimler-Benz bought the firm in 1960, it became part of MTU Friedrichshafen from 1969, and DaimlerChrysler revived the Maybach brand for luxury cars from 2002 to 2012.