Hans-Werner Aufrecht

Engineer who co-founded AMG with Erhard Melcher in 1967 and founded HWA after the AMG sale.

Aufrecht trained as an engine fitter and joined Mercedes-Benz. In Daimler-Benz’s Development Department, he and Erhard Melcher worked on the 300 SE racing engine until the company ended its motorsport activities. Aufrecht left in late 1966. In 1967 the pair founded AMG as an engineering office, first working under Aufrecht’s house and then at a former mill in Burgstall. Their AMG Mercedes 300 SEL 6.8 took class victory and second overall at Spa in 1971; the firm moved to Affalterbach in 1976.

A 1990 co-operation agreement put AMG products into Mercedes-Benz’s dealer and service network, and the C 36 AMG of 1993 was the first jointly developed model. Aufrecht transferred a majority stake in AMG on 1 January 1999; DaimlerChrysler acquired the remaining shares on 1 January 2005. HWA’s own history dates its company registration to 1998 and describes the motor-racing business and parts of vehicle and component development as separated from the AMG transaction; HWA GmbH became HWA AG in 2006.

Aufrecht chaired ITR e.V., the organisation and promoter of the DTM, from 1986 until Gerhard Berger took over in March 2017. HWA was listed in 2007. Aufrecht joined its supervisory board that year as deputy chairman, became chairman in 2010, and left the board after the 2025 annual meeting. HWA’s 2025 notice said he would remain a core shareholder, while its current company site still identifies him as founder.

Mercedes-Benz tasked AMG with the CLK GTR on 5 December 1996; the first vehicle was completed on 26 March 1997. AMG technical director Gerhard Ungar, not Aufrecht, led the project. Bernd Schneider won the 1997 FIA GT drivers’ title in a CLK GTR at Laguna Seca on 26 October, and AMG-Mercedes won the team title. A 2017 Mercedes release records 25 street-legal CLK GTR (C 297) cars; HWA says it designed and manufactured five roadsters from 2002.