Hansa 400 History

After acquiring Hansa-Lloyd in 1929 and halting luxury-car production, Carl Borgward revived the Hansa passenger-car name in 1933 with the 400: a rear-engined microcar using a 396 cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine (built by ILO Motorenwerke) producing 12 PS at 3,600 rpm, capable of 65 km/h. It was available as a two-door saloon with suicide doors.

The 400 was replaced after roughly a year by the Hansa 500, which used a bored-out 494 cc version of the same two-stroke engine producing 14 PS and offering a convertible body option alongside the saloon. Both models were discontinued when April 1933 tax-regulation changes made the very-small-engine segment less commercially attractive, paving the way for the more conventional Hansa 1100.