IFA L60

IFA L 60[edit]

Former NVA-L60
The first L 60 trucks being previewed at the Autumn Leipzig Trade Fair in September 1986.
Ludwigsfelde truck production 1965–90: W 50 in dark green; L 60 in pale red.^[27]
L 60 truck
After the launch of the W 50, IWL undertook development work to increase engine power and reduce fuel consumption, reduce empty weight and increase payload, improve reliability and driver comfort and reduce production time.^[29] From 1967 IWL was planning a range of new trucks with sizes of three, five, six and 10 tonnes.^[30] Two prototypes were built: a three-tonne truck code-numbered 1013^[31] followed by an 11-tonne one code-numbered 1118.^[32]

In the first quarter of 1970 development work resumed with two new prototypes, one each of the 1013 and 1118.^[33] Considerable capacity at IWL continued to be taken up with looking after the W 50, but development of the 1118 slowly continued.^[34]

The 1118 became the IFA L 60, and development intensified from 1974.^[35] In 1978 the DDR made an agreement with Volvo Trucks to use a Volvo cab on an L 60 prototype.^[34] Within two years this resulted in a contract to make Volvo cabs under licence, for which a new production hall would be built at Ludwigsfelde.^[34] The contract would include IWL supplying cab shells to the Volvo truck plant at Ghent in Belgium and also allowed IWL to supply cabs to VEB Robur-Werke Zittau in Saxony, which made smaller trucks ranging from about 1.5 to 3.5 tonnes.^[36]

When the preparatory work for the new assembly hall at Ludwigsfelde was well advanced, Volvo tripled the price.^[36] In 1980^[37] the Ministerrat der DDR cancelled the agreement and ordered that series production of the L 60 was to go ahead without the Volvo cab.^[36] IWL accordingly started development of a new cab, the 6400, both for the W 60 and to supply to Robur.^[36]

In 1984 IWL again reached agreement to give the L 60 a foreign cab, this time from Steyr in Austria.^[37] However, three years later the DDR could not meet Steyr's asking price for the design and the necessary production tools.^[38] Instead the L 60 was given a cab based on that of the W 50, but able to be tilted forward for access to the engine.^[39]

After the W 51 and W 52 projects were discontinued in June 1983 (see above), the L 60 programme was adapted to the needs of Iran and Iraq.^[40] The payload was increased to at least six tonnes and power output was increased to a range from 125 to 180 bhp.^[41]

The L 60 was finally unveiled to the public at the Autumn Leipzig Trade Fair in September 1986 and its series production began at Ludwigsfelde in June 1987.^[28] L 60 development had started by 1967 so the model arguably reached the market about 15 years late, and its cab derived from that of the W 50 made it look even more out of date. L 60 sales did grow each year, and in 1989 they peaked at 8,081 vehicles for that year. Total L 60 production at Ludwigsfelde from 1987 to 1990 was 20,293 vehicles.^[28]

Potential customers within the DDR were deterred not by its appearance but by its price, which was almost double that of the W 50.^[28] As a result, IWL kept the W 50 in production alongside the L 60 until 1990.^[28]