Hansa

Hansa was a German brand, which was part of the Borgward group. Hansa was based in Bremen. In 1949 Borgward presented the large Hansa sedan, which was the first European car with a pontoon body. He had taken ideas from American magazines, which he read when under detention.

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward was a German engineer and designer and the creator of the Borgward group, based in Bremen.

Carl Borgward was of modest extraction, the son of a coal retailer, Wilhelm Borgward, and had twelve brothers and sisters. He made mechanical engineering studies, and obtained his engineering diploma in 1913.

He was injured during World War I. In 1919 he became one of the partners of Bremer Reifenindustrie. The company was restructured and became in 1920 Bremer K?hlerfabrik Borgward & Co.

In 1924 and 1925 the company started to produce the small three-wheel trucks Blitzkarren and Goliath. With his partner Wilhelm Tecklenburg, in 1928 he created the company Goliath-Werke Borgward & Co. When the two associates took over Hansa-Lloyd-Werke in 1931, this became the Borgward Group.