The story
The former employee Alfred Zürcher of the Martini weapons factory opened a workshop in 1898 in Hottingen (Zurich). On June 21, 1900, he founded the company Zürcher & Huber, Automobilfabrik Orion, together with Jean Huber to produce automobiles. The company was located at 281 Hardturmstrasse. The brand name was Orion. Initially, automobiles were manufactured. Orion delivered the first taxi for the city of Zurich. In April 1902, Alfred Zürcher joined the Basel Automobile Club.
The public limited company Orion AG was founded on March 15, 1902. It took over what had previously been run by the firm Zürcher & Huber. The share capital was originally 160,000 francs and was increased to 200,000 francs in 1904. The company never published a business report. Dividends were not paid in 1908 and 1909. Up until then, the Orion brand with its trucks enjoyed a good reputation. From 1902, only trucks, fire engines, and buses were produced. In 1903, exactly 30 trucks were produced. Sales figures were given as 13 cars for 1903, 48 vehicles for 1904, and 72 for 1905. The company was also involved in railway construction. Between 1903 and 1905, 50 units of the Oldsmobile Curved Dash were imported and sold.
In 1904, it was transformed into a joint-stock company called Zürcher, Automobilfabrik Orion AG. Branches were also established in Bologna, Italy, and Marseille, France. The joint-stock company founded in Bologna had a starting capital of 1,200,000 lire. In the 26,000 sqm factory complex, five different Orion vehicles were produced in 1907. The engines included a single-cylinder 9/10 hp, a two-cylinder 12/14 hp, a two-cylinder 20/22 hp, a two-cylinder 24/25 hp, and the top model with a four-cylinder 35/40 hp.
The French company named ″Compagnie Orion Francais″ was founded with a share capital of 600,000 francs. Of the many omnibuses licensed in London, in 1905 one, in 1906 nine, and in 1907 also nine buses of the Orion brand were licensed. Buses for Switzerland were designed with a width of 1800 mm to fit the narrow roads. Vehicle production ended in 1910.
In July 1910, the motor truck factory "Orion" in Zurich was liquidated. In 1912, the company Burkhard, Hiltpold & Spälti rented space in the Orion buildings on Hardturmstrasse. In addition to repairing commercial vehicles, the company now manufactured accessories for the automotive industry. These included rims, radiators, car heaters, and other accessories. In 1917, 751 trucks were registered in Switzerland, of which 531 were Swiss-made. Of the 531 Swiss trucks, 114 were from the Orion AG. In 1918, 70 trucks from Orion AG were still registered.
Between 1918 and 1935, Mathis vehicles were sold. At the end of 1976, the company was taken over by the internationally active technology group AL-KO Kober Vehicle Technology.
From Wikipedia’s article on Automobilfabrik Orion AG, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3