The best cars ever made in Austria

Custoca

The kit car scene was in full swing in the UK and US by the mid-1960s, and Gerhard Höller saw no reason for Austria to miss out on the home-build sports car boom. Based in Leoben, Höller came up with his Strato model that was based on the Volkswagen Beetle floorpan and the original plan was to sell fully built cars. However, the glassfibre body was not very well made, so he switched to offering the car as a kit.

Around 135 Strato cars were made and Custoca launched its Ford GT40-inspired Hurrycane in 1971, with 100 sold and powered by various V8 engines. A beach buggy called the Buggy Fun was the company’s most successful model and found 350 willing buyers.

Denzel

Wolfgang Denzel started his eponymous company making wooden-bodied cars based on the floorpan of Volkswagen Kübelwagens left over from the Second World War. However, the Densel sports car was an altogether more sophisticated machine. Styled in a similarly sleek and low-slung way to the early Porsche 356, the Denzel started with a VW Beetle floorpan, but moved on to a bespoke chassis. Denzel also developed his own highly tuned engines from the VW flat-four motor, offering as much as 86bhp from a 1.5-litre version.

The roadster went on to win the 1954 Alpine Rally outright in a 1.3-litre model and around 300 Denzel sports cars were made before the company hit the buffers in 1960.

Deus

Set up in Vienna in 2020, Deus is the most recent addition to Austria’s car building tradition. The company’s Vayanne hypercar uses EV power and has had input from Italdesign and Williams Advanced Engineering.

Production of the 2169bhp Vayanne is scheduled to begin in 2025 and only 99 cars are due to roll of the line. Each Vayanne is set to cost €2.2 million and only 99 cars are due to roll of the line. With four-wheel-drive and 2169bhp, it’s claimed the Vayanne will offer 0-100 km/h in 1.9 seconds, a 400 km/h top speed, and be able to recharge in just 20 minutes to give a 480 km range.

Felber Autoroller

Felber, the car company that briefly produced cars in Austria between 1952 and 1953, is not to be confused with the Swiss company of the same name that built specials based on Ferraris and Lancias. The Austrian Felber Autoroller was an early example of the bubble car and used a 398cc two-cylinder Rotax engine with 15bhp.

In the cabin, the Autoroller offered an odd seating layout, with the driver in the front centre and small seat behind on the left for children. There was another passenger seat for adults angled diagonally to the right rear of the driver. Unsurprisingly, the Felber Autoroller didn’t catch on and only 400 were made before the company disappeared just a year after it started production.

Fisker Ocean

Henrik Fisker was born in Denmark and is now based in California in the US after working for car firms like Aston Martin, BMW, and Ford. This international outlook led to the Ocean, which was first unveiled in prototype form in 2020, being built somewhere other than where he resides.

As a result, Fisker sub-contracted Magna Steyr to build the Ocean at its factory in Austria. However, the project was plagued by financial troubles, and by April 2024, production of the Ocean was suspended – but not before 10,000 units had already been built. Only a few months later, the Fisker brand filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Gräf & Stift

The Gräf brothers built their first car as early as 1895 and combined with Willy Stift in 1902 to make cars designed by Arnold Spitz. In 1907, the Gräf & Stift company built its own car and became known for its large, luxury models.

Gräf & Stift earned a certain notoriety when one of its cars was being used to transport Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he was assassinated in 1914, which sparked the First World War. After the war, the company returned to luxury car manufacture and its cars were noted for their silver lion mascot. The last Gräf & Stift car, a C12 model, was made in 1938.

Grofri

Grofri was based at Atzgerdorf near Vienna from 1921 to 1931 and was one of many European car makers to emerge in the post-First World War era. The Austrian company started with its own six-cylinder model and also built versions of the French firm Amilcar’s sports models under licence.

Grofri had its own factory racing driver while in business. This was Max Hoffman, who later went on to set up his own vehicle import business in the US and made his name bringing in Porsche and Volkswagen cars.

Jaguar I-Pace

The I-Pace was not the first Jaguar to be built in Austria – that honour goes to the E-Pace. Both were made by Magna Steyr at its plant in Graz. The two Jaguar models were a fitting reflection of Magna Steyr’s flexibility at its factory, as it had the capability to build cars with different propulsion systems at one plant and on the same line.

It’s also a measure of how pleased Jaguar was with making the I-Pace in Austria that it held the car’s world premiere in Graz in 2018. Production ended in 2024.

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Jeep might be as American as apple pie, but that hasn’t stopped the company building its Grand Cherokee for European buyers in Austria. It’s another customer for Magna Steyr and the factory in Graz, which even earns a ‘G’ suffix for Grand Cherokee models made there to distinguish them from US-made versions.

Jeep Grand Cherokees have been produced in Austria since the car’s launch in 1993, and the same factory has also built the Commander and Chrysler 300C saloon between 2005 and 2010 for the European market.

KTM X-Bow

KTM has a separate manufacturing plant for its cars to its motorcycle division, which is based in Mattigohefen that’s 150 miles to the northwest of the car facility in Graz. However, even though KTM’s cars are made in Graz, they are not produced by Magna Steyr but hand-built by KTM itself.

Alongside the stripped out X-Bow, KTM also makes its GT-XR supercar in the same plant. Its carbon fibre tub is made in Salzburg by Carbo Tech, keeping the Austrian DNA of the car intact. It takes KTM around 60 hours to build a X-Bow, but the 492bhp GT-XR requires 1600 hours to build by hand to individual customer specification that helps justify its £250,000 price tag.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Two generations of Mercedes E-Class 4Matic models were produced in Austria by Magna Steyr. The first was the W210 generation that started to roll out of the Austrian factory in 1996. By the time the next E-Class, the W211 model, arrived in 2002, Magna Steyr had built 97,500 four-wheel drive E-Class in saloon and estate forms.

Production of the W211 4Matic ended in Austria in 2006, with a further 93,300 cars built. At this point, the tooling for the 4Matic models was transferred to Mercedes’ Sindelfingen plant for production to continue in Germany.

Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen

If you thought Mercedes would want to downplay that its iconic G-Wagen is built in Austria by Magna Steyr, think again. Not only has the Austrian firm being building G-Wagens from the start, it helped in the off-roader’s development as far back as 1972. Another demonstration of Mercedes’ pride in the G-Wagen’s Austrian heritage is the visitor experience based at Magna Steyr’s Graz factory. You can tour the factory, see G-Wagens from throughout the car’s life, and take a ride in one of the cars round a series of off-road courses.

The G-Wagen plant in Graz was built specifically for this model, and Magna Steyr has also built the car in completely knocked down form in Greece for the Greek Army.

MINI Countryman

With a German parent, you might expect some MINI models to be made there. However, for the first generation of Countryman, and then the Paceman, BMW looked to Austria to build its MINI SUV. Magna Steyr was chosen to make the Countryman for its flexible production facility, which made it easier to adjust production to customer demand. The Austrian firm also has a lot of experience with four-wheel drive to further entice BMW.

When the second-generation Countryman was launched, production had moved to another contract production manufacturer, this time VDL Nedcar based in the Netherlands.

Peugeot RCZ

Peugeot returned to fine sports car form with the 2010 RCZ coupe. While the French company basked in the glory, much of the plaudits are thanks to Austrian firm Magna Steyr. In less than two years, Magna Steyr developed the RCZ from a concept to production reality. It did this by using virtual development, reducing the need for working prototypes drastically.

With that completed, the RCZ was also built by the Austrian company at its Graz factory until it went off sale in 2015.

Porsche 356

The town of Gmünd holds a special place in Porsche lore as it’s where the very first cars to bear the company’s name were built. Porsche had moved there in 1943 to avoid air raids on Stuttgart and set up shop in a former sawmill. The very first Porsche was 356.001, which was a mid-engined roadster. It remained a one-off as the second car was a 356 Coupe with the Volkswagen-derived engine now rear mounted and producing 40bhp.

Production of the early 356 remained in Austria until Porsche relocated back to Stuttgart in 1950. By then, 44 Coupé and eight Cabriolet 356/2 models had been made in Austria, and they are now the Holy Grail of collectors.

Puch 500

Puch got car manufacturing back underway in Austria after the Second World War by building Fiat cars under licence. The 500, however, was rather different. Although Puch agreed with Fiat to use the new 500’s body, the Austrian company shunned the Italian’s parallel twin engine in favour of its own flat-twin motor.

The air-cooled engine made 16bhp to begin with, but faster 660cc versions made up to 40bhp and proved very competitive in hillclimbs and on track. Around 54,000 Puch 500s were made and the car remained in production from 1957 until 1969.

Saab 9-3 Convertible

The Saab 9-3 Convertible was originally built in Finland by Valmet at its Uusikaupunki plant. When the model was replaced by the second generation version in 2003, production shifted to Austria. Under the wing of Magna Steyr, the 9-3 Convertible became the first Saab to be built outside of Scandinavia.

As well as making the 9-3 Convertible, Magna Steyr helped engineer the 9-3 Convertible. During its production life in Austria, 99,535 Convertibles left the Graz factory.

Steyr 50

Steyr may be better known today for making cars for other companies, but prior to the Second World War it made its own very advanced 50 from 1936 to 1940. The 50 was a compact car in a similar vein to the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Steyr also used a flat-four engine. However, the 50’s motor was front-mounted and water-cooled.

A more powerful 55 model was added in 1938, which also had a longer wheelbase to improve rear seat space. In total, around 13,000 of both versions were produced.

Steyr-Puch 120

Steyr Puch’s 120, and the 125 and 220 models that evolved from it, was a rakish compact saloon launched in 1935. The 120 arrived with a 2.0-litre six-cylinder engine rather than the smaller capacity four-cylinder motors used in the 100 model. This was superseded by the 125 Super in 1936 with its slightly larger engine and 50bhp output, though only 200 of this model were built before the 220 arrived in 1937 with its 2.3-litre engine and 55bhp.

The 220 was by far the most popular of this line of Steyr cars, selling 5900 by the end of production in 1942 compared to 1200 120s sold between 1935 and 1936.

Steyr 1500

Steyr was well regarded for its commercial and military vehicles, so the 1500 command car came from good stock. Its light but strong chassis made it ideal for use as a command car and to carry several troops with equipment. An air-cooled 3.5-litre V8 provided 85bhp - and it also sent power to all four wheels, a key advantage over vehicles like the Kübelwagen.

When it went into production in 1941, the 1500 quickly found favour with General Rommel’s Afrika Korps for its reliability and resistance to overheating in the desert conditions.

Steyr-Puch Haflinger

Better known simply as the Haflinger, this small, lightweight off-roader was named after the Haflinger horse breed that originated in the Tyrolean Mountains. Like its equine namesake, the Haflinger was brilliant at negotiating rough terrain, aided by four-wheel drive and superb ground clearance. It also weighed just 600kg but could carry four passengers and a cargo of up to 500kg.

Made by Steyr-Daimler-Puch between 1959 and 1974, the Haflinger was powered by a simple 643cc flat-twin engine shared with the Puch 650. By the end of production, 16,647 Haflingers had been built and many are still used for off-roading now.

Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer

Inspired by the Haflinger, Steyr-Daimler-Puch came up with the larger scale Pinzgauer, which was named after a type of Austrian cow. The Pinzgauer was primarily aimed as a military vehicle and rival to the Land Rover Series III and Forward Control models. With its cab-over design, the Pinzgauer made the best use of space within its wheelbase while also retaining superb approach and departure angles for off-road use.

Power came from a 2.5-litre air-cooled engine, which was later enlarged to 2.7-litres, until a second-generation model was introduced in 1980 with a Volkswagen six-cylinder turbodiesel engine. The Pinzgauer remained largely unchanged up to 2000, when the manufacturing moved to the UK.

Toyota GR Supra

The latest Toyota Supra shares a great deal with the BMW Z4, so it’s no coincidence the Supra is built in the same factory in Graz, Austria as its Z4 sister car by Magna Steyr. The Supra began production slightly later than the Z4, getting going in March 2019. The first car down the line was finished in a unique specification with matt grey paint, red door mirrors, and carbon fibre inserts for the red leather interior.

It also came with an engine signed by Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota. This car was auctioned in the US and sold for $2.1 million (around €1.8 million), with all the proceeds going to charity. Production ends in March 2026, at the same time as BMW Z4 production ends.