Weiss-Grüber

Weiss-Grüber is a German car company that has created the modern car maker. They are a part of the Weiss-Grüber Gruppe.

History

Two young men in Germany named Janik Weiss and Lasse Grüber got together to create the first combustion piston powered engine in the early 1870s and after multiple failed attempts of making a locomotive powered by it, in 1885, the two made the Weiss-Grüber Motorwagen, sometimes called the WGM.

From there, it took off like wildfire. A patent was given to the two friends in 1886, making it the first modern automobile in history and where all the automobiles would derive from.

The two friends had many adventures in their creations and weren’t really businessmen in mind, letting the company be acquired by multiple owners as the years went by. By the mid 1890s the company was renamed multiple times as new owners took a hold of it but it never seemed to stick for long, the Weiss-Grüber name and branding didn’t seem to be that much profitable. Until one single man came along to turn that around: David Elssler. David took the company in 1902 and by 1926, the company had done a complete turnaround, returning it back to the Weiss-Grüber name which has remained since.

David also expanded the company to have several more factories all over the world, getting into debt on purpose to make more cars and continue to expand the line up of their cars. World War 2 proved to be incredibly profitable for the company who expanded their offerings to make engines for planes and submarines, both that are no longer available.

David passed away in 1947, and his 45 years of the company were immortalized in the LD45 vehicle, still sold to this day.

After passing to new owners from the Elssler family in 1947, it was only in 1966 that the Grüber family was able to retake the helm at the company and they remain ever since.

A stint from 1998 to 2007 with the Mahogany Group from the USA was attempted but after several years of rejected proposals, the two companies parted ways on the merge, but remained partners.

The company also dealt with motorsports, joining Formula A and Touring categories, creating a friendly rivalry with UK brand Woking. In 1999, the two companies announced that they would be joining Formula A together in a joint design venture that ended in 2012.

Weiss-Grüber continues to be very active within the middle-class segment, with multiple vehicles, including trucks. Their latest creation is the SM5 I WGP, the first of a new generation of cars.

WGP

In 1967, the company created a high performance brand called Weiss-Grüber Performance, that would pretune several of their cars from the factory. As the years went on, WGP (as it is normally called) eventually was given some independence, creating their own cars based on Weiss-Grüber models.

Featured Vehicles

Regular

Rosburg WGP (2022)

The next supercar from Weiss-Grüber, the Rosburg WGP is a sight to behold. Made in collaboration with their Formula A teams and named after the world’s most famous track, the vehicle boasts an incredible design and even better control on the road. It’s one of the most advanced dual hybrid vehicles out there, showing that Weiss-Grüber is more than capable of making fast hybrid cars.

The Rosburg WGP comes with a 1.6L V6 ICU engine and 4 electric motors, one being a turbocharger, one being a kinetic energy recovery system and two electric motors in the front axles. The car sports an M4 configuration and a 7-speed manual single-clutch transmission.

Welser VII WGP (2022)

The seventh generation of the Welser lineup comes filled with new goodies for those that love the series. It takes back the 2+2 seat configuration from many generations prior and offers a cabriolet version out of the box, as well a hybrid one.

The Welser VII WGP comes with a twin-turbocharged 3.9L V8 in a F4 configuration and a 9-speed automatic transmission.

Thurn WGP (1998)

The homologated version of the Thurn GTC is simply known as the Thurn WGP and it’s a sight to behold. Only 50 units were produced from 1998 until mid 1999, being of the rarest cars from Weiss-Grüber in their existence. Unlike many homologated versions of GTC vehicles, the Thurn WGP is essentially the same car as its racing counterpart, but fine tuned to be just barely road-legal, like soundproofing the engine bay.

It came with a 6.9L V12 engine in a RMR configuration, with a 6-speed manual transmission.

Welser V WGP (2006)

The sportier model from the Welser V lineup was the WGP model, which came with a twin-turbocharged engine and a more aggressive profile to match it. The car became a success with the general public and also in the big screen, as well as many video games.

It comes with the aforementioned twin-turbocharged 5.9L V12 in a F4 configuration and a 6-speed automated manual transmission.