HQM Sachsenring GmbH is a Zwickau-based company that supplies chassis and body parts to the automotive industry. The company was named after the Sachsenring race track. Founded as VEB Sachsenring after the end of World War II, and operating out of the former Auto Union factory in Zwickau, Sachsenring was one of the few manufacturers of vehicles in East Germany, its best known product being the Trabant, produced between 1957 and 1991.[1] Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Sachsenring transitioned from a government-owned company under a centrally planned economy to a private corporation in a free market economy.
After three years in bankruptcy, Sachsenring AG was purchased in February 2006, by Härterei und Qualitätsmanagement GmbH (HQM) of Leipzig. Formerly the dominant major automaker in East Germany, Sachsenring has since departed from making motor vehicles. Today, it supplies, among other things, the Volkswagen factory with parts for the Golf and Passat models.