Conceived as a traction vehicle for heavy artillery, the 8-tonner from Krauss-Maffai mainly made a name for itself as a traction unit for the 88mm anti-aircraft gun 36 / 37. Developed as the test sample Type KM m 8 in 1934, the traction vehicle was mainly built by Krauss-Maffai, with some vehicles being built by Daimler Benz as type DB m 8 and by Büssing-NAG as type BN m 8. A number of changes were made to the traction unit up until 1937, changes which were then incorporated into the new model KM m 11. More than 12,000 of these vehicles had been built by the end of the War.