The DKW Munga is a

DKW DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...

-branded

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with dee ...

that was built by

Auto-Union Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm fo ...

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

, Germany. The name ''Munga'' comes from the German phrase ''Mehrzweck Universal Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb'', which translates as "multi-purpose universal off-road car with all-wheel drive"

Development

Production began in October 1956 and ended in December 1968. During this time 46,750 cars were built. The 38th International Motor Show at Frankfurt in the autumn 1957 was a great success for Auto-Union. About this time the Munga was launched. The vehicle, which has extraordinary stamina, was not only adopted by the West German ''Bundeswehr'' as a vehicle unique in its class but was also bought in large numbers for the

German Border Police Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; en, Federalism, Federal Border guard, Border Guard) is the former name of the German Federal Police (Germany), ''Bundespolizei'' (Federal Police). Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Minis ...

and various foreign military formations within NATO. The civilian version of the Munga was widely adopted in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

for agricultural and forestry work in particular, and also became popular abroad, especially in those countries where "go anywhere" transport was needed because of poor roads, such as large parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Around 2000 cars were delivered to the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

, many of which were shipped to the UK in the late 1970s. The Munga was later also available from the end of 1956 as a four-seat pan structure of steel sheet and as a six-or eight-seater platform body. The term therefore corresponds to the body variant: * Four seat (Munga 4) * Pickup (Munga 6) * Long Pick-up (Munga 8) DKW Candango 1961

The

had intended the Munga as a replacement for the 1956 M38A1 NEKAF

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

, but the type caused so many problems that it was removed from front line service prematurely in 1970. The M38A1 NEKAF Jeeps, that had been stored in mobilization compounds for reserve units, were re-issued to operational units - where they remained in use until 1995.Armamentaria 46, Legermuseum Delft 2011, page 127 - the Dutch Army Museum Yearbook The Munga was also built in São Paulo,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, by DKW-Vemag, where it was called DKW Candango. The local production lasted from 1958 to 1963 in four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive versions.

References

{{Auto Union (Europe) timeline 1950-1968 Munga Off-road vehicles Cold War military vehicles of Germany Military light utility vehicles

Development

See also

References