Hub [1]

The Hub Motor Company was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, active around 1899 and 1900. The company took its name from the distinctive design of its vehicles, which used electric motors mounted directly within each wheel hub, providing four-wheel drive.

Hub's vehicles were built in the surrey style, offered in both two-seater and four-seater configurations, and were controlled by tiller steering, a common feature of automobiles from that era. The hub-motor arrangement represented an early and unusual approach to electric vehicle propulsion, distributing power directly to all four wheels rather than relying on a single central motor.

Among those who contributed to the design of the Hub automobile was Joseph Ledwinka, an engineer who would later achieve greater recognition for his contributions to Budd Company bodies, notably in the development of automobile body construction techniques.

The Hub Motor Company's production life was brief, and the marque did not continue beyond 1900. It remains a notable early example of hub-motor electric drive technology in the history of American automobile manufacturing.