History
* 1906 Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen (Denmark) bought an empty cloth factory in Zschopau
* 1917 invented the Dampfkraftwagen (German for steam-powered car) also known by its trademark DKW
* 1920 motor-assisted bicycle
* 1923 renamed in DKW
* 1927 started racing activities
* 1928 DKW takes over the Audi factory at Zwickau
* 1929 60000 motorcycles leave the Zschopau factory, and DKW is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world
* 1931 introduced DKW small cars
* 1932 The Auto Union was founded, created from Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW.
* 1939 developed the RT 125
* 1948 renamed in IFA (a state-owned enterprise in GDR)
* 1950 The Zschopau works begins production of the RT 125 model, developed before the war, under the trademark IFA (Industrieverwaltung Fahrzeugbau). This model became patent free after the war and was further developed in Britain, USA, Japan, Italian and West Germany.
* 1952 the BK350 appears, the first two stroke shaft drive.
* 1956 The works is now called VEB Motorradwerk Zschopau, or MZ for short.
* 1962 The ES 125 / ES 150 starts manufacturing. Up to the present day (2004) it is the most-built German motorcycle. It was also the first motorcycle with an asymmetric low beam headlight pattern.
* 1970 the millionth motorcycle rolls off the conveyor belt, an MZ ETS 250 Trophy Sport
* 1972 MZ takes over manufacturing of sidecars from Stoye.
* 1983 the 2-millionth motorcycle rolls off the conveyor belt, this time an MZ ETZ 250. With disk brakes and 12 volt electrics the MZ had reached the modern standard in motorcycle design.
* 1989 MZ ceases manufacture of sidecars.
* 1990 MZ is privatised, on 1991, 18 December.
* 1993 MZ goes under receivership, and the ETZ patent sold to the Turkish firm Kanuni which continued producing models 251 and 301. The MuZ company is formed from the rest.
* 1996 MuZ was bought by the Malaysian Corporation Hong Leong
* 1999 the u is finally dropped from the name MuZ.
The Zschopau works are one of the oldest motorcycle factories in the world, producing motorcycles since 1922. Most well known models were the 125/150 and 250 series, with the variants ES, ETS, TS und ETZ. And MZ was one of the few producers that made motorcycles with sidecars, though prior to 1972 sidecars were manufactured by Stoye.