
In 1972, Deutz-Fahr unveiled the INTRAC series of multi-role tractors. In the same year, the company introduced D 06, its most successful tractor ever built, with 380,000 models sold. Seven years later, KHD acquired the majority of share capital in Fahr and changed the company’s name to Deutz-Fahr. KHD began collaborating with Fahr AG in 1961 through minority shareholding. In 1958, KHD introduced the D series of tractors, with the D 40 model having the most success.

Two years later, the company reached the milestone of building 100,000 tractors since its founding. As the situation and production returned to normal conditions, the company also introduced direct power take off with dual friction. In 1949, four years after World War II ended, KHD built the F1L 514 and F2L 514, which were the first tractors to be powered by an air-cooled diesel engine. One of Germany’s largest groups, it covered all sectors of the engine industry: cars, lorries, trains, ships, aircraft, and tractors. The company acquired Klockner in 1937 and changed its name to Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz AG (KHD). In 1952, the company changed the F1M 414’s engine to air-cooled until it stopped production in 1959. This model helped promote the mechanisation of small farms. Also known as the “people’s tractor”, it featured a single-cylinder, water-cooled, 11 hp engine, and was the first mini-tractor worldwide to be mass-produced. Then in 1936, the Deutz F1M 414 was introduced. The Deutz F3M 317 came into being the following year. This same year also marked the start of the company’s mass production of standard tractors. The 14-hp Deutz MTH 222 featured a compressor-less diesel engine and had two forward gears and one reverse gear. In 1927, MD built its first road tractor in Cologne. In 1894, the first Deutz tractor, which featured a 26-hp petrol engine, was built by the company’s subsidiary in Philadelphia, USA.Īfter a consortium was founded with Motorenfabrik Oberursel AG in 1921, the company changed its name to Motorenfabrik Deutz AG (MD). Eight years later, Otto developed an ignition with a low voltage magnet.


In 1876, Otto finished making the “four-stroke” combustion engine for all types of fuel. Five years later, the Cologne factory was expanded, thus establishing the joint-stock company Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz AG (GFD). In 1867, Otto and Langen’s “atmospheric gas engine” won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of Paris for being the most economical powered machine for the light industry.

The first few years saw the company already earning recognition for its inventions. It was the first engine manufacturing company in the world. The story of Deutz tractors began when Nicolas August Otto and Eugen Langen founded N.A.
