Tatra (company)

Tatra is a Czech vehicle manufacturer from Kopřivnice. It is owned by the TATRA TRUCKS a.s. company, and it is the third oldest company in the world producing motor vehicles with an unbroken history. The company was founded in 1850 as Ignatz Schustala & Cie, in 1890 renamed in German Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft when it became a wagon and carriage manufacturer. In 1897, Tatra produced the first motor car in Central Europe, the Präsident automobile. In 1918, it changed its name to Kopřivnická vozovka a.s., and in 1919 it changed from the Nesselsdorfer marque to the Tatra badge, named after the nearby Tatra Mountains on the Czechoslovak-Polish border (now on the Polish-Slovak border). In the interwar period, Tatra came to international prominence with its line of affordable cars based on backbone tube chassis and air-cooled engines, starting with Tatra 11 (1923). The company also became the pioneer of automotive aerodynamics, starting with Tatra 77 (1934). Following the 1938 German-Czechoslovak war and Munich Agreement, the town of Kopřivnice was occupied by Nazi Germany and Tatra's production was directed towards military production. Trucks like Tatra 111 (1942) became instrumental both for the German Nazi war effort as well as post-war reconstruction in Central Europe and Soviet Union. Today, Tatra's production focuses on heavy off-road trucks based on its century long development of backbone chassis, swinging half-axles and air-cooled engines. Core of its production are Tatra 817 intended primarily for military operators and Tatra Phoenix (Tatra chassis with DAF cabin and Paccar water-cooled engine) aimed primarily for civilian market. In 2023, the company plans to produce over 2.000 trucks. Ignaz Schustala (1822–1891), founder of the company "Ignatz Schustala & Comp" in Kopřivnice, started the production of horse-drawn vehicles in 1850. In 1891 it branched out into railroad car manufacture, the company was renamed "Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft", and it employed Hugo Fischer von Röslerstamm as technical director in 1890.