N.A.G. Neue Automobil Gesellschaft

Neue(later National) Automobil Gesellschaft, automobiles and trucks, Berlin, Germany 1901 – 1934, later merged with Büssing AG

Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft AG

Industry	Automotive
Fate	Merged with Büssing AG
Founded	1901
Defunct	1934
Headquarters	Berlin, Germany
Key people	Emil Rathenau, founder
Products	Automobiles and Trucks

NAG car from 1908

Neue Automobil-Gesellschaft (NAG) was a German automobile manufacturer in Berlin. In 1915 it was renamed Nationale Automobil-Gesellschaft (NAG).

In 1902, German electrical company AEG purchased the coachbuilding side of Kühlstein under engineer Joseph Vollmer, renaming it NAG. The company’s first two cars were reliable, if unoriginal: the two-cylinder Typ A and 5.2 liter (317ci) four-cylinder Typ B, both with chain drive, which resembled contemporary Mercédès. Shortly, an enlarged Typ B2, with 40/45hp (30kW) 7.9-liter (482ci) four, appeared. In 1907, one of these was given to the Empress Auguste Viktoria.

The next year, AEG got out of the car business, but NAG continued alone, introducing a 15 hp (11 kW) 1502 cc (91.7ci) four called Puck, with a remarkable (for the period) ability to rev to 3000 rpm, which may have contributed to its ability to win the Gothenburg Cup at the Swedish Winter Trials in 1912, 1913, and 1914. This sporting reputation was balanced by “aggressively ugly Prince Henry-type bodies”.

The Puck would later be developed into a model known in Germany as the Darling. From 1911 to 1914, NAG’s standard offering was an 8495 cc (518ci) 60 hp (44.7 kW), joined in 1912-14 by a 1502 cc (91.7ci) 10/12 hp (7.5 kW) K2, 2085 cc (127ci) 14/20 hp (10 kW) K4, 3308 cc (202ci) 20/25 hp (15 kW) K5, and a 5193 cc (317ci) 25/35 hp (19 kW).

NAG building by Peter Behrens in Berlin-Oberschöneweide

During the recovery after World War I, NAG produced smaller numbers of 2.5-liter (153ci) C4s, essentially prewar K4s with new vee radiators replacing the prewar oval ones.

                                                                  1902 NAG Kleingenberg. It was fitted with a 5 hp single-cylinder engine

The economic situation was so serious, NAG partnered with Brennabor, Lloyd, and Hansa to form GDA (what in the U.S would be called a trust), to prevent competition from destroying them all. It proved successful for NAG, which prospered, enough to build the C4b sports variant, designed by chief engineer Christian Riecken (a Minerva racing driver prewar).

1905 NAG 14PS

Riecken ran a C4b at the newly opened AVUS in 1922, winning at 84.3 mph (135.7 km/h), which was greater than the C4’s top speed. It sacrificed nothing to reliability, as NAG went on to place well at the 1923 All-Russian Trials and the ADAC Reich Trials for 1923-26. In 1924, NAG hit its apex at Monza, where Riecken and Hans Berthold won the Gran Premio della Norte in a C4b, covering 1656 mi (2665 km) in 24 hours, an average of 68.99 mph (111.02 km/h), for which the model was renamed Monza.

1906 NAG

In 1926, Protos (which had built the winner of the New York-Paris race) was acquired from Siemens-Schuckert, leading to “a series of dull six-cyliner cars”. The next year, NAG again expanded, taking over Presto, which had just bought Dux, continuing to build the 2.6-liter Typ F and 3-liter Typ G. The difficulty was, despite their quality, none of these were distinctly different from other German cars of the period.

1910 N.A.G. Darling K2 6-18 PS Doppelphaeton 1912 and Opel 4-8 PS Doktorwagen Zweisitzer 1910

In response, NAG created a disastrous straight-eight (abandoned due to crankshaft whip), which was never built, then hired former Impéria and Steiger man Paul Henze, “one of Germany’s most gifted car designers”, in an effort to remedy this situation with a new top-line car. Henze settled on a 4540 cc (277ci) V8, Germany’s first to enter production which became “one of the outstanding German luxury cars of 1931, the NAG 212.”

1932 NAG 212 Cabriolet, which was fitted with a 4540cc V8 engine

Rather than rely on conventional shaft drive, however, NAG chose to attempt to fit a Voran FWD system (designed by Richard Bussien) to a backbone chassis with independent suspension, which proved too ambitious, and the development costs disastrous.

In 1934, NAG ceased car production, while NAG-Büssing commercial vehicles continued to be produced for a few more years.

During the Second World War, the company produced the

Sd Kfz 231,Sd Kfz 232,

Sd Kfz 233,

and Sd Kfz 234

series armoured cars.

See also

Büssing

1938 BÜSSING NAG emblem Berlin

pictures I collected on www:

Herbstmanˆver des IX. Armeekorps in der Bayrischen Ostmark 1935, Panzer-Sp‰hwagen im Dorf D¸rnast

So fuhr der Kavalier im Jahre 1900! Eines der ersten Automobile aus dem Jahre 1900 bei der Vorführung auf dem Sommerfest der Sport-Presse in Berlin-Ruhleben.

Scherl Bilderdienst Von der Auto-Reichsfahrt 1922. Ch. Riecken-Berlin, zweiter in Klasse VC, Sieger in der zweiten Bergprüfung und in der Flachprüfung. 10239-22

Herbstmanˆver des IX. Armeekorps in der Bayrischen Ostmark 1935, Panzer-Sp‰hwagen

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