Berna 1900-1912 - the car brand of the city of Bern
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Summary
There were around 10,000 car brands and designers - most of them have disappeared. Berna, the city of Bern's own brand, is one of them. Inspired by his visit to the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, Joseph Wyss began designing small cars in his locksmith's workshop. In 1903, a newly built example was shown for the first time at the Paris Motor Show, some of which were also sold to England. However, the company then increasingly devoted itself to truck production until small car production was discontinued completely in 1912.
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The city of Bern, where AR was founded in 1906, once had its own Berna brand. It originated in a locksmith's workshop opened by Joseph Wyss in 1893, which made a name for itself with metal decorations on public buildings. After visiting the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, Wyss designed small cars inspired by De Dion-Bouton. They were equipped with a single-cylinder rear engine with a displacement of 785 cm3 and an output of 5.2 hp, a two-speed gearbox (up to 12 or 38 km/h) and a De Dion rear axle. The carburetor, axles and ball bearings were also produced in-house. A trip up Bern's local mountain, the Gurten, with three Berna cars in 1902 caused a sensation: with four people on board, the 15 to 30% gradient was completed in 23 minutes. In 1903, Berna presented the Unicum with a front-mounted 8 hp engine at the Paris Motor Show. Of the nine examples built, some were sold to England.
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