The story of Steyr goes all the way back to 1865 with the establishment of a gun factory near Steyr in Austria, a town famed for metallurgy and gunsmiths, which had grown prosperous suppling arms to the Hapsburg empire.
By the outbreak of World War I, it was employing 15,000 people making 4,000 rifles a day alongside bicycles and aero engines.
Cars, trucks and the Fiat connection
After the war it was prohibited from manufacturing arms, so it turned to trucks and cars instead. There is also a suggestion that it produced motor ploughs, and a Fordson under licence, during this period, although it is difficult to verify this claim.
The road vehicles were built under licence from Fiat and established a connection with the Italian company that was to blossom once again after the next war.
However, the company kept the rifle target motif as its logo until 2007 when it became the much simplified crescent shape that it is today.
Another new start
Once again, finding itself unable to produce arms after the second major conflict, the company turned to vehicles and rekindled its relationship with Fiat. It also started making tractors of its own design.
Its first model was the the 180, produced in 1947. This was a 26hp two-cylinder model that was, at first, fitted with surplus aircraft tyres, such was the shortage of rubber.
This proved to be too big for many potential customers so the company in turn brought out the single-cylinder Steyr 80 of just 13hp (later increased to 15) which went on to enjoy great success.
Such was the popularity of this tractor that it spawned several other models based around multiples of this single-cylinder format in the manner of the Porsche System tractors of almost a decade later.
Home market assured
At the time, Austria was keen to protect the growth of its reborn industry and so the government placed heavy duties on imported machines and only granted loans to farmers for tractors that had been made in the country.
This naturally led to a shortage of machines and it is said that customers with a knapsack full of ready cash arriving at the factory gate stood a far better chance of taking one home than those who patiently waited for an order to be fulfilled through the official channels.
In 1960 a new series of tractors was introduced based around a cylinder displacement of 1.1L.
The first of these machines, the 188, had two of these under its bonnet providing 28hp. They were low slung tractors designed to operate on steep alpine slopes.
The company continued to grow and in 1966 it adopted the distinctive red and white colours which replaced the original green.
Eight years later, tractor assembly and sales moved from the town of Steyr to St. Valentin, where it remains today.
Steyr partnerships
The company did not just produce tractors under its own name, it also became involved with Marshals towards the end of that company's life.
In 1986 the company commenced work with Valmet in a bid to develop and build a new mid-range tractor with the companies splitting the work of developing a new engine and cab between them.
Unfortunately Steyr's bank pulled the plug on the project by selling its shares to Deutsche Bank, which wanted to merge the company with Deutz.
This was anathema to the Valmet engineers who were intent on keeping the engine liquid cooled.
The engine which was developed before Deutsch Bank become involved worked well, as did the transmission, which continued to be used by both companies long after the split.
Case absorbs Steyr
In 1996, Case Corporation, then the parent of Case IH, purchased the Steyr agricultural division, eventually leading to the two companies finding themselves residing in opposing camps.
Today, the factory finds itself working under the umbrella of CNH industrial and produces tractors for the three marques, Case, New Holland and Steyr.
Presently they are not officially imported into Ireland, however, there are one or two dealers who do sell and support them on their own initiative. Parts commonality with the blue and the red brands ensures that they may be happily serviced here.
