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Private company

Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau

Logo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

East German vehicle construction holding company

Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (lit. 'Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction'), usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany. IFA produced bicycles, motorcycles, light commercial vehicles, automobiles, tractors, vans and heavy trucks. All East German vehicle manufacturers were part of the IFA, including Barkas, EMW (which made Wartburg cars), IWL, MZ, Multicar, Robur, Sachsenring (which made Trabant cars) and Simson.2 It ceased to exist in 1991.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1948Founded1
  • Industryautomotive industry1
  • HeadquartersChemnitz1
  • Founded inChemnitz1
  • Legal formconglomerate1

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Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H1017-0204-001, Leipzig, Sachsenplatz
Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons5

Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (lit. 'Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction'), usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany.2

Corporate structure

Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau sits at the top of its group. 7 entities, 2 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

Products and brands

  • truck

Listed on Wikidata.1

IFA cars were based on pre-war DKW designs and made in the former Horch factory in Zwickau. The F8 had a two-cylinder 684 cc (41.7 cu in) engine, and the F9 had a three-cylinder 804 cc (49.1 cu in) unit. The F8 bodies were straight copies of the pre-war models, and rapidly looked old-fashioned, but some had more modern coachwork by Baur of Stuttgart, then in West Germany. The three cylinder cars (F9) had not got into production before war broke out in 1939, and so had more up to date bodies similar to the West German DKWs. More than 26,000 F8's and 30,000 F9s were built. IWL produced W50 and L60 trucks and Robur light trucks and vans.

The IFA badge was dropped from cars in 1956, and the F8s became Zwickau P70s, and the F9 was rebodied to become the Wartburg and production transferred to Eisenach.

From Wikipedia’s article on Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

Also owns

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1991Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1948Founded Founded in Chemnitz1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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