Porsche-Diesel Motorenbau

Porsche-Diesel Motorenbau GmbH was a German maker of diesel tractors that built its machines between 1956 and 1963 at Manzell on Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen. The business grew out of the Volksschlepper, a small people's tractor that Ferdinand Porsche's firm was commissioned to design in 1937 as a counterpart to the Volkswagen, which only reached the prototype stage before the Second World War. After the war Porsche tractors were produced from 1950 with the Allgaier works of Uhingen, and from 1956 in cooperation with the Mannesmann group, with an assembly plant in Friedrichshafen. The range was sold in series named by cylinder count: Junior, Standard, Super and Master. About 120,000 Porsche tractors were built in all. Tractor production ended on 15 July 1963, when Porsche sold its tractor division to Renault, and Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau took over the plant and workforce.