Egon Brütsch Fahrzeugbau, usually shortened to Brütsch, was a German

automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern mot ...

and

automaker The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries ...

based in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. Brütsch were best known for producing many

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...

designs, but only produced small numbers of each design and the primary function of the company appears to have been that of the development and promotion of each design to sell licences to manufacture to other companies. Between 1952 and 1958, eleven different models of car were manufactured by Brütsch, but the total production of all models by the company is believed to be only eighty-one cars. Many of the bodywork designs were simple two-piece mouldings of

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

reinforced with

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

, bonded at a waistline join, which was then covered by a protective strip.

Chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

and

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...

design was very rudimentary and after a misguided court action in 1956 by Brütsch against a licensee, at least one of Brütsch's designs was condemned as dangerous. The abbreviated chassis used on the majority of the cars meant that for structural integrity they could not have doors and all these models had low sides to facilitate entry and exit.

Brütsch 200 "Spatz" or Dreirad-Dreisitzer 1954-1955

A 3-seater, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 191 cc

Fichtel & Sachs ZF Sachs AG, also known as Fichtel & Sachs, was founded in Schweinfurt in 1895 and was a well-known German family business. At its last point as an independent company, the company name was Fichtel & Sachs AG. In 1997, the automotive supplier w ...

engine driving through a four speed gearbox. Top speed was around and about five cars were produced. Also built under licence by A. Grünhut & Co of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

with minor changes and sold as the Belcar. Another licence was sold to Alzmetall for production by Harald Friedrich GmbH of Germany, but so many faults were found with the original design that their production model, the

Spatz Kabinenroller The (German for ''sparrow''), later renamed the Victoria 250, is a four-wheeled microcar that was built between 1956 and 1958. The car was originally conceived by Egon Brütsch as the Brütsch 200 "Spatz" a fiberglass three-wheeler with the su ...

was fundamentally a different car. Because of this Brütsch took Alzmetall to court to ensure payment of his licence fees but lost the case.

Brütsch Zwerg 1955-1957

A 2-seater, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 191 cc

engine driving through a four speed gearbox. Top speed was around and twelve cars were produced. Also built under licence by Air Tourist Sàrl of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

with minor changes and sold as the

Avolette Avolette is a former French auto-maker. History The ''Société Air Tourist'' company, with its little factory at Paris in the rue de Ponthieu, began production of a small three-wheeled car in 1955. Production probably never progressed beyond the ...

. Only four examples of the 2-seat Zwerg are known to still exist in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and are currently awaiting restoration.

Brütsch Zwerg - Einsitzer 1955-1956

Bruetsch Zwerg Classic-Gala 2021 1X7A0184

A single seat, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 74 cc

DKW DKW (''Dampfkraftwagen'', – the same initials later also used for ''Des Knaben Wunsch'', ; ''Das Kleine Wunder'', and ''Deutsche Kinderwagen'', ) was a German car- and motorcycle-marque. DKW was one of the four companies that formed Auto U ...

Hobby scooter engine driving through a

continuously variable transmission A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automated Transmission (mechanical device), transmission that can change through a continuous range of gear ratios, typically resulting in better fuel economy in gasoline applications. This contr ...

. Top speed was around and four cars were produced. Three surviving cars were discovered in Germany in 2010 and have been restored.

Brütsch Mopetta 1956-1958

A single seat, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 49 cc LOengine driving through a three speed gearbox. Top speed was around and fourteen cars were produced. Production was licensed to former

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 Gr ...

dealer Georg von Opel, who planned to build the Mopetta at a former Horex motorcycle factory, however this plan appears to have resulted in nothing more than the production of sales literature. Due to its unusual design and rarity, the Mopetta has been subject to many replicas.

Brütsch Rollera 1956-1958

A single seat, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 98 cc

engine driving through a three speed gearbox. Top speed was around and eight cars were produced. Also built under licence by Air Tourist Sàrl of

Brütsch Bussard 1956-1958

A 2-seater, 3-wheeled roadster, powered by a single cylinder 191 cc

engine driving through a four speed gearbox. Top speed was around and eleven cars were produced. One of the last known Bussards was recently written off after rotting away in

. Its windscreen, which remained, was donated to the owner of a Brütsch Pfeil (below), which had no original windscreen.

Brütsch Pfeil 1956-1958

A 2-seater, 4-wheeled roadster, powered by a twin cylinder 386 cc Lloyd engine driving through a three speed gearbox. Top speed was around and six cars were produced, only one of which survives and is undergoing restoration in

Brütsch V2 1956-1958

A 2-seater, 4-wheeled roadster. Powered by either a single cylinder 98 cc

engine giving a top speed around or a single cylinder 247 cc

Maico Maicowerk A.G., known by its trading name Maico () is the name of a family company in the Swabian town of Pfäffingen near Tübingen. Founded in 1926 by Ulrich Maisch as Maisch & Co, the company originally manufactured 98 and 123 cc Ilo tw ...

engine giving a top speed around . Both versions had a four speed gearbox and in total twelve cars were produced.

Brütsch V2-N 1958

A 2-seater, 4-wheeled roadster with doors. Powered by a twin cylinder 479 cc

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 (, ) is an Economy car, economy / city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975. It was sold as a two-door semi-convertible or saloon car and as a three-door panel van or estate car. Launched ...

engine driving through a four speed gearbox. Top speed was around and three cars were produced. This model was developed for potential

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n licensee NGO, but the project eventually came to nothing.

References

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External links

Comprehensive report on the racing cars driven by Egon Brütsch and the cars he designed on the web portal '' oppositelock.kinja.com '' with many pictures
, retrieved January 5, 2017
Pictures of a Brütsch Mopetta (vehicle collection Eppelheim)
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Die Ei-Autos von Egon Brütsch (Text42)
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brutsch Microcars Three-wheeled motor vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany manufacturing companies based in Stuttgart