Zündapp

Zündapp was a major German motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1917 in Nuremberg by Fritz Neumeyer with Friedrich Krupp AG and the machine tool maker Thiel, originally as a producer of detonators under the name Zünder- und Apparatebau. Neumeyer became sole owner in 1919 and moved into motorcycles in 1921, beginning with the Z22. Its shaft-driven K series of 1933 lifted its German market share from 5 percent in 1931 to 18 percent in 1937, and its sidecar outfits such as the KS 750 were supplied to the German armed forces in the Second World War. After the war it added scooters, mopeds and microcars, including the Bella scooter and the Janus microcar, and moved from Nuremberg to Munich in 1958. Falling sales and new regulations led to bankruptcy in 1984, and the brand was later bought by Chinese and then German owners.