K-R-I-T Motor Car Company

Krit Motor Car Company factory located at 1608 East Grand Boulevard
Company type	Automobile Manufacturing
Industry	Automotive
Genre	Touring cars, roadsters[1]
Founded	1909
Defunct	1916
Headquarters	Detroit, Michigan , United States
Area served	United States
Products	Vehicles Automotive parts

K-R-I-T (or simply "Krit") was a small automobile manufacturing company (1909–1916) based in Detroit, Michigan.

Krit Motor Car Company's name probably originated from Kenneth Crittenden, who provided financial backing and helped design the cars. The emblem of the cars was a swastika (a symbol that was not yet associated with Nazism, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, or antisemitism).^[2]

Krit occupied two different sites during its history: the first one it took over from the Blomstrom car, and in 1911 moved to the works that had been used by R. M. Owen & Company who had moved to become Owen Magnetic.

In 1911 the KRIT Motor Company was purchased by Walter S Russel of the Russel Wheel and Foundry Company.^[3]

The cars were conventional 4-cylinder models and many were exported to Europe and Australia. In 1913 a six-cylinder car was introduced and Krit tried to increase sales by engineering cars for other marques. The outbreak of World War I seriously damaged the company and it failed in 1915. A few cars were subsequently assembled from remaining parts.^[2]

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  1912 KRIT motor car Advertisement
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  1917 KRIT Motor Car Co. - Patterns available
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  1911 Krit Advertising
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  Logo prominently showing the swastika emblem
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  swastika on car in National Automobile Museum

• 1913 K-R-I-T "KT" 5-Passenger Touring at the National Automobile Museum.