Lloyd Motoren Werke G.m.b.H. (Lloyd Engine Works) was a German automobile manufacturer, created in 1908 and owned by the
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of th ...
shipping company. The factory was in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
. The company operated under a variety of different names throughout the decades, but their products were nearly always badged with the Lloyd marque. Originally a manufacturer of luxury cars, the company was folded into the
Borgward Group in 1929, with the brand no longer used on passenger cars until 1950. Production ended for good in 1963, although a successor company continued trading until 1989, selling replacement parts and also manufacturing engines for snowmobiles and boats.
The German Lloyd marque had no connection with the British
Lloyd Cars Ltd
Lloyd Cars Ltd was a British motor manufacturer, founded by Roland Lloyd (1904–1965), son of a garage owner, and based in Patrick Street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England between 1936 and 1951. Two models were made, separated by World War II; ...
company active between 1936 and 1951.
1908–1937
The first cars were licence-built
Kriéger electric vehicles. Petrol-
engined models followed in 1908 with 3685 cc engines, but few were made. The
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
,
Paul Mossay, was employed for four years as chief engineer, designing both engines and
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...
s.
In 1914 the company merged with
Hansa to become Hansa-Lloyd Werke AG. The company changed names and badging on a number of occasions and were never on a sound financial footing.
Most of the Hansa/Lloyd cars made during this period were sold as Hansa with the Hansa-Lloyd name mainly attached to commercial vehicles, with the exception of the ''Treff-Aß'' and the ''Trumpf-Aß''. The company was integrated in the
Borgward group after the purchase of Hansa by
Carl F. W. Borgward
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward (November 10, 1890 in Altona, Hamburg – July 28, 1963 in Bremen (city), Bremen) was a German engineer and designer and the creator of the Borgward group, based in Bremen.
Biography
He was of modest origin, ...
in 1929, and car production ceased.
Until 1937, the Hansa-Lloyd brand was used on a number of commercial vehicles (trucks and buses), from the one-ton "Express" to the five-ton "Merkur". They were largely replaced by Borgward-branded vehicles, with a few models sold with just "Hansa" badging in 1938.
1950–1963
![2007-09-08 2636 Lloyd 300, Modell 1950-1951 (ret)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/2007-09-08_2636_Lloyd_300%2C_Modell_1950-1951_%28ret%29.jpg)
Lloyd as a standalone name only entered mass-production of cars and light trucks in 1950 with the company becoming Lloyd Motoren Werke GmbH – still in Bremen. The very first cars (the
Lloyd 300
The Lloyd 300 was a small car produced by the Borgward Group's Lloyd Motoren Werke GmbH (''Lloyd Motor Works'') in Bremen between 1950 and 1952.
The full name of the Lloyd 300 featured a two letter prefix that identified the body shape. The Llo ...
) were wood and fabric bodied. Thin, rolled steel gradually replaced the original fabric shell between 1953 and 1954 (Lloyd 400), however wood framing was still used within the doors and elsewhere.
The Lloyd 250 was called ''"Prüfungsangst-Lloyd"'' ("Lloyd for exam nerves") as they appealed to owners of older driving licenses who could drive it without having to pass a new driving test for cars with a cubic capacity of over 250 cc, a test which was introduced in a legal reform of the mid-1950s. With a power of only 11 PS (DIN), the Lloyd's designers saw a need for saving weight, and thus offered the LP 250 without a back seat, bumpers, hub caps or trims. However, most buyers ordered the LP 250 V with these features as optional extras.
Overall, the vehicles matched the need for small and cheap cars which were a characteristic of post-
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
Germany, and they provided a comparatively high standard in comfort and reliability. They rose to third place in the annual licensing statistics for several years in the 1950s, behind only
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
and
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
. In spite of this success, there was little prestige to be gained by driving a Lloyd. In the vernacular, the Lloyd 300 was called ''"Leukoplastbomber"'' due to the owners' habit of repairing nicks in the fabric of the body with sticking plaster called Leukoplast. A contemporary derisive verse went ''"Wer den Tod nicht scheut, fährt Lloyd"'' ("He who is not afraid of death, drives a Lloyd").
Pietro Frua
Pietro Frua (2 May 1913 - 28 June 1983) was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s.
Early years
Frua was born in Turin, the centre of coachbuilding in northern Italy. He was the fourth son of Angela, ...
designed a coupé on the basis of the Lloyd Alexander; it was presented at the Turin Motor Show in November 1958.
The parent company failed in 1961 but cars were still made up to 1963. By this time, the LP 900 was named "Borgward Arabella" instead of "Lloyd Arabella".
Models
Australian production – The Lloyd-Hartnett
The Lloyd 600 was assembled in Australia by a company formed as joint venture between
Carl Borgward
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward (November 10, 1890 in Altona, Hamburg – July 28, 1963 in Bremen (city), Bremen) was a German engineer and designer and the creator of the Borgward group, based in Bremen.
Biography
He was of modest origin, ...
and
Laurence Hartnett
Sir Laurence John Hartnett CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the c ...
in the late 1950s.
The car was introduced in December 1957 as the Lloyd-Hartnett and a total of 3000 cars were built before production ceased in 1962.
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]
References
External links
The Lloyd Cars English HomePage
Lloyd & Borgward
{{Borgward timeline 1945 to 1970
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany
First car made by manufacturer
Borgward