ČKD-Praga

ČKD-Praga was a major engineering company based in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Formed in 1927 as a result of the merger of Českomoravská-Kolben-Daněk (ČKD) with Praga, a subsidiary of Breitfeld & Daněk specializing in automobile production, ČKD-Praga became a significant industrial conglomerate with a broad range of products.

The company's activities spanned diverse fields, including the manufacturing of automobiles, trucks, buses, aircraft engines, tanks, locomotives, trams, and various industrial machinery. During the interwar period and World War II, ČKD-Praga was a prominent manufacturer of light tanks, notably the LT vz. 38 (later known as the Panzer 38(t) under German occupation), which saw extensive use in the Wehrmacht.

After World War II, ČKD-Praga was nationalized and continued its production under communist rule. The company remained a major player in the Czechoslovakian economy, focusing primarily on heavy machinery, transport vehicles, and electrical engineering. Production volume and specialization changed over time reflecting the demands of the Eastern Bloc.

Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, ČKD-Praga underwent privatization. However, the company faced significant challenges in adapting to the market economy and ultimately dissolved in the late 1990s. While the original ČKD-Praga entity ceased to exist, its legacy remains in the industrial heritage of the Czech Republic, and various successor companies continue to operate in related fields. The Praga brand itself has been revived for sports cars in recent years, unrelated to the original firm's core activities.