Before the second world war, DKW was one of the biggest motorcycle factories in the world. DKW was running a very successful racing department and winning nearly every race in the 175cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc and the sidecar classes. It had one of the best racing teams in the world. At that time DKW had been competing in the European championships - there had been no worldchampion races - and many drivers had won the crown for DKW. Drivers who wanted to win the European championship had first to beat the racing motorcycles from DKW and their drivers.

DKW was integrated in the Auto Union GmbH and also produced cars.