From late 1938 Ringhoffer-Tatra AG was integrated into the Nazi economic system as a strategic armaments manufacturer. The company's Tatrawerkes in Koprovince initially produced its civilian heavy trucks for the Wehrmacht, but soon expanded into construction of tank and marine engines, half-tracks and in 1943, a light-weight, high-speed eight-wheel drive armored scout car, the SdKfZ 234. This type had been developed in Germany by Bussing AG, which also specialized in heavy truck manufacture, earlier in the war. Bussing and other manufacturers built the bodies and generally fitted their own petrol engines, which was preferred by the Wehrmacht; diesel engines being restricted to the soft-skinned trucks and the Kriegsmarine. However, later in the war the Tatrawerkes were instructed to build a version of the SdKfZ 234 around their 12-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine. The diesel engine was newly developed and did not perform as well as expected. Additionally, diesel was difficult to source within the army, so this particular version was less popular than the petrol-engined model. Nevertheless, these proved to be a very versatile vehicle and were one of the fastest armored vehicles to serve in the Second World War.
See the video below for an overview:
This review by the British Tank Museum at Bovington discusses the difficulties the Germans' had with the Tatra diesel engine that was fitted to later versions of this iconic vehicle.
A British performance report on the Tatra V12 engine can found here: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2022/04/bios-final-report-1311-design-and.html
The Raupenschlepper-Ost, originally designed by Tatra engineer, Erich Uberlacker, formerly of Tatra, was powered by a Tatra inspired V8 air-cooled diesel: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2023/01/1942-steyr-raupenschlepper-ost.html
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