Het zal ook eens niet.
Het blijft een merkwaardig fenomeen, dat overleden en lang vergeten automerken massaal terugkeren in de eenentwintigste eeuw. In plaats van simpelweg een nieuw elektrisch automerk te starten, grijpen ze terug naar een geschiedenis die slechts een enkeling nog zal kennen, enkel om woorden als “heritage” en “tradition” te gebruiken in de perspublicaties. Kolder natuurlijk, maar ondertussen schieten ze als onkruid uit de grond.
Tijdens het jaarlijkse Concours d’Eleganza bij Villa d’Este zagen we ditmaal weer een voorbeeld van deze praktijken. Langs het Comomeer stond daar ineens een nieuwe auto van het in 1934 omgevallen merk Austro-Daimler. Een deels elektrische, welteverstaan.
Hoewel de auto zich bij lange na nog niet in het productiestadium bevindt, heeft het merk snode plannen voor de bolide. De Bergmeister ADR 630 krijgt een zescilinder in combinatie met drie krachtige elektromotoren, die hem volgens het merk in 2,5 seconden naar de 100 km/u moeten stuwen. Zijn totale systeemvermogen bedraagt 1.200 pk en 1.600 Nm. Best indrukwekkend.
Zijn gigantische prestatiecijfers doen weinig af aan het rijbereik van de auto. Wie een beetje normaal om kan gaan met zijn rechtervoet, zal 1.000 kilometer moeten kunnen afleggen. Volledig elektrisch rijden kan hij naar verluidt tot 250 kilometer. Het ruim 4,5 meter lange gevaarte weegt 1.650 kg.
Het lijnwerk van de auto is geïnspireerd door de auto’s die Austro-Daimler ooit, in een ver verleden, maakte. Het merk heeft om zijn eerste nieuwe creatie te omschrijven een nieuwe term verzonnen: Shooting Grand. We zijn benieuwd of het ook daadwerkelijk iets gaat worden.
Dutchdriftking zegt
Design technisch klopt het net niet.
koffiekopje zegt
@dutchdriftking: -edit: dank u, is inmiddels gefixt-
tenaci zegt
@koffiekopje: top! Fijn dat de missers in design meteen gefixt zijn! Autoblog kan gewoon toveren!
pietertjep85d zegt
-edit: dank u, is inmiddels gefixt-
jpoers zegt
@pietertjep85d: en dan maar 250km. een tesla 100 weegt 2ton, denk eerder een 0 teveel
moveyourmind zegt
Een dandy die een oud automerk nieuw leven in probeert te blazen…
Waar heb ik dat toch eerder gezien…
kniesoor zegt
@moveyourmind: Viktohr Möller ?
moveyourmind zegt
@amghans: Was het niet Bernhard?
Oh nee, dat is die dandy die dat oude circuit weer wil reanimeren…
mpgc zegt
@amghans: hij is leuk!
michael_klinger zegt
@moveyourmind:
Hello! Roland Stagl would probably be happy to be called a dandy, especially as he usually dresses a lot more casual. Of course, formal clothing was a must for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
But as a fan of the historic Austro Daimler brand, he has been working on this project for the past 17 years, investing nearly all of his private fortune in the realization of this vehicle, so there is more to it than that.
If you are interested, you can read the story behind the project on austrodaimler.com, as it is also available in English. I assure you that this project has little in common with other car projects, especially in terms of funding.
Just to avoid any misunderstanding: Neither Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER, nor Roland Stagl are affiliated with Daimler AG or any company belonging to Daimler AG.
Best regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
kniesoor zegt
@michael_klinger:
Grüss Gott. Had a look at your website. Which is leaving the impression, that the Austro Daimler brand is primarily used as a vehicle to promote what is supposed to be a new type of hybrid drivetrain called SERIPA. Using an old name (with some heritage/pedigree) is a recipe used more often.
It will be interesting to see how things will develop from here. It us yet unclear to me what Stagl’s/your ultimate goal is : actually reviving the Austro Daimler brand or just using it as a marketingtool for the SERIPA technique. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more on that.
michael_klinger zegt
@amghans:
Hi amghans!
In a certain way it’s both. It is true that Roland Stagl has always felt great enthusiasm for the historic brand Austro Daimler. So he also was one of the first members of “Sektion Austro Daimler”, an Austrian association dedicated to preserving and maintaining Austrian Daimler vehicles. When I first met him, he told me that it was his lifelong dream to once build a true AUSTRO DAIMLER. However, he had the feeling that it would be wrong to just put a V8 or a 12 cylinder engine in such a car and be done with it. As he had already been working on the drivetrain technology that we now call Seripa, it was a logic step to put this technology into the new Bergmeister.
However, if you already have had a look at our homepage, you know that Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER is not a company. Roland Stagl was able to build the new Bergmeister because a buyer for the concept vehicle could be found. The buyer from Lower Austria invested not only his own capital, but also his trust in Roland Stagl, thereby enabling the construction of the vehicle, which was to be fulfilled by Roland Stagl in the form of a one-man business (Einzelunternehmen in german). However, almost all of the money that came in, went into the construction of the vehicle and the development of certain parts. But as you can imagine, there are several other duties to be fulfilled, to communicate about such a project, to present the car at an event like the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este and so on. Therefore my wife and myself, as well as Thomas Prünster, a friend of ours, came on board with Roland Stagl and we work more in the form of a project group since then. Fortunately, all of us are self-employed, because currently none of us receive a salary out of this project. Everything we do, we do because Roland Stagl has become a close friend to us and because we believe in his vision.
Now to our goals: Yes, we absolutely want to revive the brand and would like to produce the new Bergmeister at least in the form of a small series. Therefore we currently are in talks with potential investors, technology partners and buyers in order to generate capital and make the production of further vehicles possible.
However, during the development of the drivetrain Roland Stagl realised that this concept might be powerful enough to be used even in other vehicle categories like trucks. That’s one of the reasons why the drive of the vehicle is so powerfully dimensioned: to test what this system can do under real life conditions. Of course, we are very well aware that there are big differences between driving a car and driving a truck but one has to start somewhere. Currently it’s still too early to go into too much detail, as some finetuning to the drivetrain and further testing has yet to be carried out, but being able to put this drivetrain into heavy-load vehicles (where it is not or not yet sensible to convert them to electric motors) and/or to licence the drivetrain to other manufacturers would also be one possibility to generate income and to be able to produce further vehicles.
I am very well aware, that our story may not help create great confidence in our future. Nevertheless, we currently have neither a huge stash of money (which would be great) or a big business partner who supports us with knowledge and infrastructure (which would be even more great) and therefore we believe that transparency is extremely important, even if it can be to our detriment.
Cheers,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
kniesoor zegt
@michael_klinger:
Hello Michael. Thank you for your candid and detailed response, much appreciated. Wishing you guys (and girls) the very best of luck with your efforts, hoping they will ultimately pay off and make you reach your goals. Having exbihited your Bergmeister – right next to Peugeot’s eLegend mal eben – at Villa d’Este is an achievement in its own right, do hope it will help you open doors to new sources of investment required to lead the project to maturity. Will be keeping a keen eye on developments in that department.
Cheers
(no longer amg)Hans
moveyourmind zegt
@michael_klinger: Thank you, I just visited the website and also looked on the internet for projects by Roland Rtagl. He is indeed anything but a dandy, rather a sober engineer who has a goal in mind.
On closer inspection, he reminds me more of ambitious and driven people like Christian von Koenigsegg and Joop Donkervoort who have successfully established a new car brand.
Hope that something beautiful will emerge from this project, and that the Bergmeister when it finally comes on the market is a car that has the same grandeur as the cars of Austro Daimler and other chic brands from days gone by.
I am very curious about the end result, and wish you success with this project and other projects that follow.
michael_klinger zegt
@moveyourmind:
Hi there, and thanks for your reply!
The description of your impression of Roland Stagl nailed it almost perfectly. He is the most ambitious and driven person I have ever met and at the same time he is very modest and down to earth – that’s one of the reasons why some business partners in the past were able to take advantage from him. It’s not my place to tell, but believe me: He also had his fair share of bad luck.
As I mentioned in another comment, we are currently dependent on raising capital and therefore are in talks with potential investors, technology partners and buyers. Great that you mentioned Koenigsegg and Donkvervoort, because Roland Stagl mentioned both of them (amongst a few others) to me, when we talked about role models for our business some weeks ago.
Anyway, thank you very much for your kind words. The future of Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER still has to be decided and I believe that within a few weeks, maybe a month, we will have more information to share about our next steps. I will try to come back to this forum as often as I can, but the safest way to be up to date are our social media channels.
Regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
tortuga zegt
Lijkt wel een sls omgebouwd met nog een Mercedes stuur er in. Heeft wel iets
bertorelli zegt
@tortuga: Dat was ook mijn eerste indruk.
jvthof zegt
@bertorelli: de a stijlen en de voorruit leken mij direct Mercedes idd, toen was het stuur mij niet eens opgevallen
rogers zegt
-edit: dank u, is inmiddels gefixt-
lincoln zegt
1600 Nm !!
Er zijn vrachtwagens die dat bij lange na niet hebben ..
Sir_Vmax zegt
@lincoln: die hebben dan ook een compleet andere reductie om de 20 ton voort te stuwen. *mompelt iets met appels en peren
tjorque zegt
@lincoln: is idd wat weinig voor een echte vrachtwagen voor grote jongens.
rrk147 zegt
Laag eigen gewicht, in vergelijking met bijv de nieuwe Ferrari. Als de auto zoveel pk’s uit de benzine en electromitor haalt, dan doen ze dat heel knap!
davelepeef zegt
Ik lees liever een verhaaltje over iemand die een oude Golf weer nieuw leven inblaast. Of een willekeurige andere, vergane burgerbak. Altijd beter dan dit soort luchtkastelen…
clubbtraxx zegt
Vind de Peugeot in de achtergrond veel gaver. Laat ze die lekker zo goed als onveranderd in productie nemen.
michael_klinger zegt
@clubbtraxx:
At Concorso d‘Eleganza Villa d‘Este I had the opportunity to talk to the people of Peugeot. Unfortunately they told me that Peugeot currently has no plans to produce any vehicle similar to the e-Legend. That‘s a shame, because I personally like this concept very much.
Best regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
michael_klinger zegt
Hello everyone and thank you for the lively discussion!
Regarding the design of the new Bergmeister, the objective was to cite unmistakable stylistic elements of historic Austro Daimler vehicles while avoiding any caricature exaggerations.
However, we are aware that this design will not please everyone and we believe it‘s perfectly fine to talk about that. Furthermore, we are grateful for constructive feedback and will try to answer any questions, if possible!
We believe that the best way to see the new Bergmeister is through one‘s own eyes, because photos often don‘t do it justice – but that‘s a fate it shares with many iconic vehicles.
In terms of technical data, this is not just a showcase, but also a test of the capabilities of the seripa powertrain, which may also be used in other types of vehicles. It is too early for details, but we will certainly continue our research in this direction.
Best regards,
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
lincoln zegt
@michael_klinger:
So what are the design elements exactly ??
Cause all the pre 1920 car brands (1500 different ones) look pretty much te same ..
And they all “supposed” to break a record after record every godgiven single day ..
Those were the days ..
michael_klinger zegt
@lincoln:
You are very right that cars from that period in general resemble a similar appearance and I believe this was mostly dictated by the size of the engines by then. Regarding the vehicles of Austro Daimler there have been several external suppliers of body parts like “Armbruster” or “Oeffag” and from my personal point of view i’d say that there are visible diverences between them.
For pictures see https://www.coachbuild.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5018 especially starting with the post of “robgeelen” from September 26, 2011.
Here you find a very good example of an Armbruster body of a Bergmeister: https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/img/Austro-Daimler-ADR-635-Bergmeister-Armbruster-Sport-Cabriolet-39786.html
Now I’ll try and answer your question and give a few examples. And I’d like to add that I asked Roland Stagl the same question when he showed me the first sketches that he drew for the car design. First of all, the general design of our vehicle as a two-seater GT aims to imitate the proportions of the original Bergmeister. Therefore the new Bergmeister borrows a very long hood and roofline, ascending from the windshield, contrasting with the descending window.
The front grille is supposed to dominate the front of the car, but was here, contrary to the historic design, very wide designed, rather than high. At the same time it is flanked by round headlights. You also find a drawn comparison on our homepage: https://www.austrodaimler.com/en/adr-630/
The gullwing doors are, of course, inspired by the legendary Mercedes 300 SL which was designed by Karl Wilfert who studied in Vienna and worked for “Steyr” before he was hired by Daimler-Benz.
I could go on further about this but I hope I could explain the general idea. You also find a drawn sideview-visualisation of the old and new body form on the instagram account of Ideenion Design who worked as a contractor with Roland Stagl during the design process: https://www.instagram.com/ideenion.design/
One last remark: It can be argued that the peculiarities of the design have too little resemblance to the original to actually be understood as a tribute. At the same time, we did not want to go the way of Hispano Suiza, who decided to put a lot more of the historic design into their Dream One. That is, of course, neither good nor bad, it’s just a decision.
Cheers,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
lincoln zegt
@michael_klinger:
Dropdead gorgeus ..
Like a Graf und Stift or a Horch from that era ..
Did Some homework and going through my pre-war car advertisement collection this morning i found an original dealer ad from Austro Daimler .. a Dutch one ..
(Have a serieus collection) ..
Thanks for your input ..
But still don’t see the resemblance that clear ..
But what can you do after a 90 year gap ..
Do it wrong .. do it right ??
Gotta do something anyway ..
Good luck and Godspeed ..
michael_klinger zegt
@lincoln:
Hello again!
During the last months I tried to put together a small collection of historic photos in order to understand and be able to communicate better about the past brand Austro Daimler. May I boldly ask if you were willing to make a photo of the ad you mentionend and to send it to me via e-Mail? I promise I won’t use it anywhere without your permission! [email protected] is the address.
My personal wish would be to present our Bergmeister throughout Europe in several countries. I have no idea if that will be possible in the future but if we ever manage to present the vehicle in the Netherlands it would be great if you could see it with your own eyes.
Thank you very much for wishing us well!
Best regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
Gulli zegt
Ze hebben zelf al een Zagatootje gedaan zie ik
aquila2003 zegt
Het zal wel weer…
rammillius zegt
Wel netjes dat de eigenaar van het project reageert.
Ik vind het een mooi project. Of het nou een oud merk is of nieuw is niet relevant. Hybride/elektrisch is de toekomst of we willen of niet. En hoe meer zich er mee bezig houden hoe beter/goedkoper de techniek wordt. Straks is het voor iedereen betaalbaar.
Terug naar de auto. Ik vind het design er goed uitzien. Ik ben wel van de lange voorkanten en dan korte achterkant.
Helaas zal ik hem nooit kunnen betalen. Ben maar een arbeider en geen directeur of loterijwinnaar.
michael_klinger zegt
@rammillius:
Thank you for the nice words!
I have already written in another post today that powertrain technology plays a big role for us, perhaps also in the future funding of our work. In addition, we would like to investigate whether this technology can also be meaningfully used in other types of vehicles where conversion to electric motors does not make sense (yet). In any case, we are convinced that it is important to advance these technologies.
I also feel with you – I will also probably never be able to afford such a vehicle, but for me that’s not new. A few years ago I worked for BMW in Vienna and sold vehicles that I could never afford to buy for myself. However, looking at beautiful cars also gives me pleasure and that’s better than nohing! :-)
In general I try to provide background information and explanations when I come across discussions, but I am currently working alone in this area and may not always be able to answer in the future. If you or anyone else has specific questions, the safest way to get an answer is to send me an e-mail to [email protected]
Best regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
pvg100 zegt
Ben ik de enige die er de lijnen van een Viper in ziet?
michael_klinger zegt
@pvg100:
Ha! You have a point! Honestly, I did not see it, but from a certain perspective the long bonnet indeed slightly resembles the Viper a little bit! Well, I begin to believe that it doesn’t matter what design you create and put out there, there will always be a resemblance to something that has been done before. ;-)
Regards,
Michael Klinger
Projekt AUSTRO DAIMLER
2wheeler zegt
Cool ding!
ontploffer zegt
Ik hoop dat dit daadwerkelijk in productie gaat. Wat vet zeg! Gewoon een 6 cilinder zoals we willen. Voor de dagelijkse rompslomp naar kantoor kan men lekker cheap elektrisch cruisen, en in het weekend naar de Eifel kun je lekker Boenderen. En de prestaties zijn fenomenaal. Echt heel erg gaaf. Kwa uiterlijk vind ik hem ook erg mooi.