Steyr Steyr-Puch 500 History

After WWII, Steyr-Daimler-Puch did not resume building its own car bodies, instead assembling modified Fiats for the Austrian market from 1949. In 1954 the company struck a licensing deal with Fiat to use the new Nuova 500 bodyshell designed by Dante Giacosa. The result — the Steyr-Puch 500, launched in 1957 — used that body but fitted Steyr-Puch's own running gear throughout: a notably smoother twin-cylinder horizontally-opposed 16 hp engine (later 20 hp), Steyr-built transmission, and revised rear suspension.

The Steyr-Puch 500 proved far smoother and more refined than the Italian original's vibration-prone two-stroke-style twin. It sold well domestically and in Germany, Hungary, Finland, and other export markets. Around 60,000 units were produced between 1957 and 1975.

A performance evolution, the Steyr-Puch 650 T, arrived in 1962 with a larger engine, followed by the rally-focused 650 TR and 650 TR II. These small machines punched well above their weight in competition: in 1966 Polish driver Sobiesław Zasada won the European Rally Championship in a 650 TR II, the smallest car ever to take that title. Production of the entire 500/650 line ended in 1975, drawing a definitive close to Austrian passenger-car manufacturing.