IFA F9

The IFA F9, later rebadged as the EMW 309, was a compact saloon built under the Soviet and East German authorities from 1949 or 1950 to 1956, first at Zwickau in the former Auto Union plant and, from 1953, at the former BMW works in Eisenach as the EMW 309. Mechanically it came from the DKW F8, and its body followed the DKW F9 prototype that Auto Union had planned to launch before the war. It had a 910 cc three-cylinder two-stroke water-cooled engine claimed to give 28 bhp at launch, driving the front wheels through a four-speed gearbox with freewheel. Plastic body panels were used increasingly after the move to Eisenach, making the car lighter than its western equivalent. Its underpinnings went on into the Wartburg 311.