2025

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering - Twindexx Vario at Leipzig Central Station. Reference rail vehicle development - double-decker train for DB Regio and DB Fernverkehr.

Double-decker trains developed by us have been in service for 10 years: the history of the Intercity 2

The Twindexx Vario double-decker trains have been shaping German rail transport for over a decade. Our team of engineers developed key components for this project and mastered complex challenges with a spirit of innovation. From the curved staircase to the complete redesign - technical excellence in every component. Find out more about the history and development of these trains!

Railroad industry_VDB New Year's reception 2025

Railroad industry: VDB New Year's reception 2025

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering was present at the VDB New Year's Reception in Berlin - a successful start to 2025 and a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas with the industry!

Certificates from HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering confirming compliance with quality and safety standards such as EN 15085-2, DIN EN ISO 3834-2, DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and TISAX

Trust through quality: New certifications confirm the highest standards

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering's latest certifications underline our commitment to quality, safety and information security. By obtaining internationally recognized certificates such as DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and TISAX certification, we set benchmarks in vehicle engineering and guarantee first-class standards in production and development. Discover how our certificates support your safety and satisfaction.

2024

3D rendering of a modern rail vehicle with topology-optimized vehicle body for alternative drive systems, such as hydrogen and battery technology, by HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering

AnoWaAs: Topology-optimized car body for alternative drive systems

Discover AnoWaAs: The topology-optimized car body for alternative drive systems is transforming rail vehicle technology. An interdisciplinary consortium is developing an innovative design for hydrogen and battery technologies, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. With its lightweight construction and modular architecture, AnoWaAs improves the efficiency and environmental friendliness of rail vehicles.

InnoTrans 2024 Mockup

See you at the InnoTrans in Berlin

Visit us in hall 7.2b, stand 100! Discover our innovations from lightweight construction to fuel cell technology. We look forward to exchanging ideas at INNOTRANS!

Project: SmarTram - Autonomous streetcar

Good progress towards autonomous streetcar operation

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is working with partners to develop the SmarTram - an autonomous streetcar. Experience it live on September 7, 2024 at the CVAG depot in Adelsberg!

DSW21 new vehicle

DSW21 - maiden voyage

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering developed the new Dortmund B-cars with HeiterBlick - sustainable, modern and comfortable. In service since April 2024, they make an important contribution to green mobility.

2023

HÖRMANN ENGINEERING: Latest developments at the Trako

HÖRMANN ENGINEERING: Latest developments at the Trako

Funkwerk AG and HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH will be represented at Trako in Poland.

 

HÖRMANN ENGINEERING: New impetus at Busworld

HÖRMANN ENGINEERING: New impetus at Busworld

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH cultivates relationships, makes contacts and gathers new ideas at Busworld.

HÖRMANN AUTOMOTIVE: Skoda is a new customer of HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering

HÖRMANN AUTOMOTIVE: Skoda is a new customer of HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering

Skoda Transportation commissions HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering to develop bogies for the Kassel streetcar system

 

HÖRMANN Engineering: HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering works for Vossloh Rolling Stock

HÖRMANN Engineering: HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering works for Vossloh Rolling Stock

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering provides mechanical design, technical calculation, software specification and functional system electrics for Vossloh Rolling Stock.

 

2022

Hörmann Enineering: Minister of Economic Affairs visits

Hörmann Enineering: Minister of Economic Affairs visits

Saxon Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig on a visit to HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering.

 

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering platform streetcar

Major streetcar development contract for three Saxon cities

In mid-March, the contract was signed with the Leipzig-based company HeiterBlick for the mechanical development services and system integration for the new streetcars for Leipzig, Görlitz and Zwickau. We are delighted to be working on this scale for our home state of Saxony for the first time in the company's history.

2021

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering roof structure

Roof structure made easy

New drive technologies, systems and functions - modern light rail vehicles and streetcars are becoming increasingly complex, but also heavier. Where weight is added, savings have to be made elsewhere. Together with the project partners RCS GmbH Rail Components and Systems, Arno Hentschel GmbH and the Fraunhofer Plastics Center Oberlausitz FKO, Hörmann Vehicle Engineering GmbH has taken on this problem.

The "INTEGRAL - Integrative lightweight roof for rail vehicles" project has been working for a year on the development of a highly integrative lightweight roof structure made from a load-optimized fibre-plastic composite.

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering Mayor of Chemnitz

Mayor of Chemnitz visits HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering

The Mayor of Chemnitz, Sven Schulze, and his spokesperson for the economy, Silvana Bergk, were guests at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering on July 8. They discussed joint topics for the mobility of the future in Chemnitz

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering New streetcars City of Würzburg

New streetcars for the city of Würzburg

The Würzburg tramway has commissioned HeiterBlick GmbH to manufacture and supply 18 new vehicles. The vehicles are 5-car, modular low-floor streetcars. They are designed to meet the special requirements of a demanding infrastructure with steep sections and a track gauge of 1,000 millimetres. The first vehicles in this series will enter passenger service in Würzburg in 2022. The engineering partner for HeiterBlick is HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH.

Europe's first hydrogen train

Europe's first hydrogen train

The Chemnitz-based company HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is developing a unique innovation together with the Leipzig-based company HeiterBlick GmbH and the Chemnitz-based company Flexiva Automation & Robotik: Europe's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered streetcar.

 

Intermodal logistics chain in urban areas

Intermodal logistics chain in urban areas

Cities are dynamic ecosystems in which mobility has a significant impact on quality of life. If this is not only to be maintained but also improved, urban mobility must be readjusted as quickly as possible and offer adequate solutions for a range of challenges. These include a steadily growing population, particularly in metropolitan areas, rising CO2 and particulate pollution, an outdated transport infrastructure, high noise levels and the very limited space available for use. The logistics of the so-called last mile are of immense importance here.

Latest generation bogie

Latest generation bogie

Another milestone has been reached in the development of a new type of bogie frame for rail transport - the go-ahead has been given for the start of production of the "hybridBOGIE" (hybrid bogie) side member demonstrator. HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH, based in Chemnitz, worked intensively with its project partner, the Institut für Konstruktion und Verbundbauweisen gemeinnützige GmbH, on the production tool and on developing and refining the production process at the end of 2020 in order to develop a near-series reference component for the side member. "In addition to the actual process validation, the side member component will also be used for further investigations in the further course of the project, including the testing and evaluation of mechanical parameters and suspension properties," explains Matthias Büttner, Project Manager at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering.

Chassis for DLR's next-generation train

Chassis for DLR's next-generation train

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH, based in Chemnitz, has been supporting the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for two years in the development of the NGT chassis of the future. Disruptive and forward-looking train concepts such as the DLR's Next Generation Train are intended to make new technologies and research findings available to the rail industry. HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is proud to be able to make a contribution to this.

 

2020

10 years of the Dessau branch

10 years of the Dessau branch

The branch of HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH in Dessau is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year 2020. On October 1, 2010, the branch was founded under the name Voith Engineering Services GmbH at the traditional rail vehicle construction site in Dessau. When it was founded, the team consisted of a total of 10 employees. Currently, 16 engineers and technicians are employed at the site.

IQ Innovation Award

Participation in the IQ Innovation Award Central Germany

HÖRMANN Automotive GmbH and HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH have entered the "IQ Innovation Award Central Germany" cluster innovation competition with their innovative integral chassis concept. The innovation prize promotes innovative, marketable products, processes and services.

Light commercial vehicles are subject to a very high degree of variance due to a wide variety of application scenarios, which can currently only be realized at high cost using a large number of tools. In addition, electrified light commercial vehicles are often based on conventional combustion engine platforms in large-scale production. This wastes valuable space, as these vehicles are not consistently designed and conceived for the use of alternative drive systems.

 

2019

Intercity train for the Chinese capital Beijing

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is developing a new type of train system for public transport between the growing metropolitan areas in China.

 

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH

Rolling highway of the future

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH, a company of the HÖRMANN Group,presented an innovative carrier wagon concept for the RoMo (Rolling Road) at TRAKO in Gdansk, Poland. The trade fair is the largest trade fair for rail vehicles after InnoTrans and focuses on the Eastern European region. Exhibitors showcase modern transportation systems and major future investments in the sector.

Carrier wagons of the future

Carrier wagons of the future

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering, a HÖRMANN Group company, has developed a modular chassis on behalf of SBB Cargo. This offers flexible use for various transport tasks and superstructures with higher payloads. "Thanks to our extensive manufacturing expertise, we were able to bring the structural lightweight construction of commercial vehicles to rail and thus apply a more cost-effective manufacturing process," says Mike Juntke, Project Manager at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering. This was achieved by utilizing existing synergies within the HÖRMANN Group, consisting of product development on the one hand (HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH) and production-oriented product design on the other (HÖRMANN Automotive Gustavsburg GmbH).

 

2018

Chassis modeled on nature

Chassis modeled on nature

The topology of the new integral chassis concept for light commercial vehicles from HÖRMANN Automotive GmbH is oval like the shape of a nut or tortoise, making it both safe and light in terms of internal energy storage. In terms of production technology, the concept is based on the results of the successfully completed Collaborative Research Center 666 "Integral Sheet Metal Structures of Higher Branching Order - Development, Production, Evaluation" at TU Darmstadt. It applies the technologies developed there to a vehicle construction application for future urban delivery traffic. It uses the branched sheet metal structures to implement new protection mechanisms for energy storage systems in vehicles with alternative drive systems.

Innovative chassis concept at IAA Commercial Vehicles

Innovative chassis concept at IAA Commercial Vehicles

The company is demonstrating the synergies of the HÖRMANN Group's expertise - particularly in the Automotive and Engineering divisions - at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018. The innovative integral chassis concept, which the HÖRMANN Group is presenting for the first time, is specifically designed for the use of alternative drives and pursues a consistent structural lightweight construction approach, which takes into account the cost sensitivity in the transport industry and the requirements of vehicle design for electrified, light commercial vehicles in particular.

Careers at HÖRMANN

The HÖRMANN Group has been at the forefront of innovation for more than 60 years.

By continuously investing in our employees’ expertise and the latest technologies, our family company has grown to include 27 affiliated companies. We are successful in four sectors: Automotive, Engineering, Communication and Industrial Services.

HÖRMANN solutions help customers to go a step further – or make a quantum leap. Our recipe for success: the corporate culture of a family company with the freedom to develop new ideas, a strong team spirit, and employees who want to make a difference.

Why work for HÖRMANN?

Added value, not just added workload

Getting better to remain good

Sharing knowledge means multiplying knowledge

Quality comes from doing

Lateral thinkers who think ahead

We ask the right questions rather than simply giving the first available answer. We work closely with customers to understand their needs – and what will really help them. The result: solutions with a long-term impact that make our customers more competitive.

We develop continuously in discussions with colleagues, through vocational training and by embracing new professional challenges. Within the company – or the entire Group.

We live the team culture of a family company that likes to share experience and expertise. Across project teams, companies and segments. The impetus is provided by each individual. The best solutions are created together.

We are doers. What we do impresses customers. But first it has to impress us. All of our employees take quality personally, are justifiably proud of their achievements and are compensated attractively for their work.

We think broadly with a view to making things better. Four segments, 27 companies, around 3,000 employees – we have many strengths. As a family company with a long tradition, we invest sustainably. We shape change with foresight.

We at HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering support the customer through the entire development process chain for rail, road and special vehicles. As a globally active engineering partner, we offer complete vehicle competence from the initial idea to the finished prototype and series production run. The HÖRMANN Group employs more than 200 qualified employees in the field of vehicle engineering - most of them engineers.

Our customers are primarily from the rail vehicle and automotive industries. With our complete vehicle competence, we are one of the global market leaders in the development of rail vehicles. We set trends in the field of lightweight construction as well as in the use of new materials and in production optimization. 

Our performance profile:

  • Development of rail and road vehicles, including locomotives, streetcars, local trains, double-decker trains, high-speed trains, motorcycles, buses and special-purpose vehicles
  • Production planning and fixture development for the automotive sector
  • Technology and process consulting from the idea to the finished product

 

We are members of various networks:

  • HZwo (Eco CC) - Innovation cluster for fuel cell and hydrogen
  • Thermopre e.V. - Fiber composites for mass production
  • DMG - German Mechanical Engineering Society, Platform for Innovative Railway Systems
  • VDB - Association of the German Railway Industry
  • BTS Rail Saxony - The railroad technology cluster in Central Germany

 

Use our competence in lightweight construction and drive technology for modern mobility concepts!

From the idea to the series

Automotive 

Rail Vehicles

Project Management Project Management
Conception Conception
Industrial Design Industrial Design

Mechanical Development
Electrical Development

Mechanical Development
Electrical Development
Control Development 

Calculation and Simulation  Calculation and Simulation
  RAMS and LCC
Fixture Development Production Planning and Fixture Development
  Test and Commissioning
  Approval Management

 

Management

Managing Director

Frank Salzwedel

The graduate engineer has been CEO of HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering since 2017. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of Voith Engineering Services and Leadec Engineering from 2012, whose development division for rail and road vehicles was taken over by Hörmann. After studying technical mechanics, he began his professional career as a development engineer for compressors and later for metal components at the automotive supplier Scherdel. From 1998, he was division manager and authorised signatory in the engineering department at IVM and since 2004 at the HÖRMANN Group.

Headquarter

Chemnitz

branch offices:

  • Dresden
  • Dessau
  • Munich

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH is a part of the HÖRMANN Group

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH is part of a robust group - the HÖRMANN Group. Since the company was founded in 1955, the HÖRMANN Group has grown continuously. Under the umbrella of HÖRMANN Holding GmbH & Co. KG, 27 subsidiaries operate with a high degree of entrepreneurial initiative and independence in the business segments Automotive, Communication, Engineering and Services.

The aim of the Group is to provide customers with economical, innovative and sustainable solutions and services that offer them clear advantages and clear benefits. To this end, the Group employs around 3,300 highly qualified employees and draws on broadly diversified and networked knowledge from a wide range of technology areas.

By offering diversified, highly qualified technology and services, the Group aims to be independent of economic influences and thus minimize the risk for the companies and their employees.

Such thinking and acting creates the freedom to develop perfect customer solutions with vision, motivation and passion. A concept that has constantly proved itself in the success and continuous growth of the HÖRMANN Group.

www.hoermann-gruppe.com

»Identify potential, shape growth and act on the basis of a clear strategy.«

Motto of Hans Hörmann, company founder

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering is part of a strong group with 27 companies

The companies of the HÖRMANN Group are always in the best strategic and logistical position for their customers.

The interactive map shows the locations of the HÖRMANN Group in Germany.

As a globally active engineering partner, we offer a reliable complete vehicle competence from the initial idea to series production.

Working for one of the most innovative business groups

Latest news from HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering - Twindexx Vario at Leipzig Central Station. Reference rail vehicle development - double-decker train for DB Regio and DB Fernverkehr.
 •  Newsmeldung

Double-decker trains developed by us have been in service for 10 years: the history of the Intercity 2

The Twindexx Vario double-decker trains have been shaping German rail transport for over a decade ...

Railroad industry_VDB New Year's reception 2025
 •  Newsmeldung

Railroad industry: VDB New Year's reception 2025

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering was present at the VDB New Year's Reception in Berlin - a successful ...

Certificates from HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering confirming compliance with quality and safety standards such as EN 15085-2, DIN EN ISO 3834-2, DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and TISAX
 •  Newsmeldung

Trust through quality: New certifications confirm the highest standards

HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering's latest certifications underline our commitment to quality, safety and ...