Corona (Brandenburg)

Corona (Brandenburg) identifies the Corona-Werke Fahrrad- und Metallindustrie AG of Brandenburg an der Havel, distinct from French and British Corona automobile marques, Toyota's later Corona model, Swiss/other vehicle names and unrelated modern uses. Adolf Schmidt founded the enterprise as a bicycle factory in 1891. It developed patented bicycle components, racing machines and a strong competition profile; Thaddäus Robl won world championships in 1901 and 1902 on a Corona racing bicycle paced by Corona motor tandems. Motorcycle manufacture began around 1901, first with heavy pacing tandems and from 1902 with road machines. The company later made its own small boxer motorcycle engine, while motorcycle production continued intermittently to 1925. Automobile manufacture began in 1905 according to the strongest marque and local-industrial histories, although regional summaries variously say 1901, 1903 or 1904. Corona licensed Ludwig Maurer's designs from Nürnberger Motorfahrzeugfabrik Union, System Maurer. Engines also came from Maurer-Union. The defining feature was Maurer's simple continuously variable faceplate friction transmission, an early alternative to stepped gearing. Two four-wheel passenger chassis are recoverable. The 6/8 PS used a 1,470 cc single-cylinder producing 8 PS at 800 rpm. The 8/10 PS used a two-cylinder whose displacement and exact output remain unresolved. Corona cars used a steering wheel rather than the tiller fitted to some contemporaries. Two- to four-seat passenger bodies, doctors' cars, taxicabs and delivery configurations were available; contemporary-derived pricing across the basic range is reported from 3,800 to 6,200 marks, with a Berlin taxi around 9,000 marks. Body style is not inflated into additional models. Some references formerly ended production in 1909 with Maurer-Union, but a 1911 Corona catalog still offered a Coronamobil passenger car and delivery van, and an illustration documents a distinct three-wheel delivery vehicle in 1913. Local research consequently supports passenger and commercial vehicle activity through 1913 or the beginning of the First World War in 1914. The catalog uses this evidence envelope without claiming continuous annual availability for each early chassis. No Corona automobile is known to survive and no factory serial or production ledger has been recovered. Three rows exhaust the defensible road range: 6/8 PS, 8/10 PS and the separately structured 1913 Three-Wheel Delivery Vehicle. Coronamobil is treated as a marketing/range name, and taxi or delivery coachwork on the four-wheel chassis remains a configuration. Automobile and van production stopped by 1914; motorcycles ended by 1925 and bicycles continued. The bicycle crisis of 1928 and global depression after 1929 overwhelmed the business, which entered liquidation in 1932.

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