Einheits-Pkw der Wehrmacht – literally: "standard passenger motor-car of the Wehrmacht" – was the Nazi German plan for a new, multi-purpose fleet of all wheel drive off-road vehicles, based on just three uniform chassis, specifically designed and built for the Wehrmacht (the Nazi military). The plan was formulated in 1934, and vehicles were built from 1936 to 1943.
The whole program yielded only some 60,000 four-wheel drive, off-road capable passenger cars, totaled across three weight-classes, plus about 13,000 6x6 trucks of 2.5 metric tons load capacity – but many of the 4x4 'Einheits'-passenger cars were deemed unfit for war-time service by the Wehrmacht internally, by 1938 – before World War Two in Europe had even started.
The new, standardized military vehicles were intended to replace the diverse fleet of two-wheel drive, militarized civilian vehicles previously procured by the Reichswehr – the Weimar Republic (1918–1933) predecessor of the Wehrmacht – with new cross-country mobile vehicles for military requirements in order to simplify logistics, maintenance and training by using standardized components.
The three main classes Leichter Einheits-Pkw, Mittlerer Einheits-Pkw, and Schwerer Einheits-Pkw (light, medium, and heavy standardized cars) were planned to use uniform chassis and mechanicals according to their weights and payloads, and each chassis would carry a number of different bodies for different purposes – similar to, but preceding the concepts of the U.S. made Dodge WC series, or the later High-Mobility, Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV / Humvee). The lightest of the three classes was also intended to serve as the U.S. -ton jeeps did.
Because of the insufficiently developed German automotive industry at that time, Hitler initiated the plan such that multiple small to medium size manufacturers should cooperate to manufacture the vehicles within each weight class, supplying uniform components (chassis, engines, bodies) as much as possible. However, the program was very ambitious (initially demanding not only independent suspension, but also four-wheel steering), which led to overly complex designs and meant that the program never came close to achieving its goals. As early as 1938, Hitler tasked Ferdinand Porsche to develop a better light, standardized, and sufficiently off-road capable car, using as much Volkswagen technology as possible: the VW Kübelwagen.
Development
Early on in the process of motorizing the German military before World War II, first the Reichswehr, and then the Wehrmacht had procured militarised versions of many different makes and models of civilian passenger cars. Therefore, the Wehrmacht's inventory of passenger cars was unsatisfactory in a number of respects when open German re-armament began in 1935. On the one hand, the existing vehicles' cross-country mobility and durability were not up to military requirements. On the other, their maintenance and parts supply were highly complex due to a large number of different makes, models, and often even model generations.
After the Nazi takeover of power, they rapidly increased funding for the mechanisation of the military, and in 1934, launched a development program for standardized chassis. It strove to achieve maximum cross-country mobility and extensive standardisation of parts while employing the latest innovations in automotive engineering at the design stage in order to prevent the cars from becoming obsolete for many years to come. Five types were initially planned:
Leichter geländegängiger Personenkraftwagen (le. gl. Pkw) "light off-road passenger car" Mittelschwerer geländegängiger Personenkraftwagen (m. gl. Pkw) "medium off-road passenger car" Schwerer geländegängiger Personenkraftwagen (s. gl. Pkw), "heavy off-road passenger car)" Leichter geländegängiger Lastkraftwagen (le. gl. Lkw). "light off-road truck" Mittelschwerer geländegängiger Lastkraftwagen (m. gl. Lkw), "medium off-road truck"