Auto Union was born in 1932 and in the period before the Second World War included several brands, such as Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. After the war, the remaining factories in East Germany were nationalized, while the Western ones were grouped from 1947 into a single company to produce the oriental models under license. The Auto Union 1000 SP had the DKW 980cc engine and was bodied by Baur, who had drawn a line that was somewhat reminiscent of the Ford Thunderbird. The 1000SP remained in production from 1957 to 1965 with 6,640 units built.