In 1936
Daimler-Benz Motoren GmbH was founded with a new factory at Genshagen / Ludwigsfelde. The factory made
Daimler-Benz DB 600 series aircraft engines until 1945, when the
USAAF bombed the plant and then what plant had survived the bombing was removed and taken to the
Soviet Union as
war reparations. In 1952 the factory was refounded as the
VEB Industriewerke Ludwigsfelde, which made various products including heavy machinery and
Multicar small trade vehicles. For a brief period the plant made Pirna jet engines for the ill-fated
Dresden 152 airliner. For more than a decade, 1954–65, it made IWL
motor scooters, including the
SR 59 Berlin (1956–59). In 1965 the plant was enlarged and converted to build
IFA trucks. When completed, the new production complex was the largest in the DDR. From 1965 the plant built IFA W50 five-tonne trucks, and from 1988 it made the larger L60 six-tonne trucks as well. Production collapsed after the DDR adopted the
Deutsche Mark in July 1990.
Daimler-Benz took a minority share in the plant in 1991 and complete ownership in 1994. In the 1990s the factory made T2 and
Vario vans, and then at the end of the decade DaimlerChrysler modernised the plant to produce the
Mercedes-Benz Vaneo. Since 2006 the plant has made
Mercedes Sprinter vans and major components for
Volkswagen Crafter vans. In 1991,
MTU Aero Engines founded the in Ludwigsfelde. A
lithium-ion battery factory was announced in 2019, operational by 2021, and eventually delivering batteries equivalent to 10,000 cars per year. == People ==