The history of the Tatra-company goes back to 1897, when the 'Nesselsdorfer-Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft' emerged from the coach factory Ignaz Schustala & Co. After the decay of the Empire in 1918, the oldest car factory in the Danube monarchy became renamed 'Ringhoffer-Tatra AG'. The company headquarters were moved to Prague, the factory remained in Koprivnice (Nesseldorf). Austria had now become a foreign country for the Nesselsdorfer Tatra company. A new sales and service network had to be set up in Austria.
This was found in the 11th district of Vienna, at the Simmeringer Hauptstrasse. But not only for repairs and sales, as also for vehicle manufacturing from 1924 on. The chassis' came from Koprivnice and the bodies were built in Vienna-Simmering.
In July 1936, the factory in Austria was purchased by the Czech parent company and the 'AUSTRO TATRA Werke GesmbH.' was created with a partnership agreement. Then plant and machine expansion became necessary. Due to the extensions now all components to build up complete cars could be manufactured in Simmering.
From April 1937 Tatra vehicles were entirely mass-produced in Austria. The T57A was produced at AUSTRO-TATRA as a sedan, cabriolet and small truck. The pickup truck was only delivered ex works in Vienna-Simmering.
At the end of WW II, the factory premises were almost completely destroyed by bombs and what the bombs did not destroy was dismantled by the occupying powers. In May 1945 Austro-Tatra tried a very difficult restart. Instead of car production, it was decided to produce Tatra spare parts, but in 1948 all business connections with Tatra were terminated. A new bodywork- and repair-shop has been built up in Wien-Simmering. The name 'Austro-Tatra' has been retained
