Sd. Kfz. 233 "Stummel" 8x8 reconnaissance support variant in Tunisia circa 1943

As the cross-country performance of the 6-wheeled armoured cars was deemed insufficient, the Heer Ordnance department (WaPrw 6) signed a contract with Büssing to develop an eight-wheel armoured car with all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering and two driver positions at front and rear. Deutsche Werke in Kiel were contracted to design the armoured body. The turret in the 231/232 series was altered to a hexagonal shape for increased internal volume, it was equipped with a long barrelled 2 cm KwK 30 L/55 autocannon and a coaxial 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun.

The Sd. Kfz. 231, 232 and 263 were initially built on chassis slightly modified for their needs. From July 1942 they were built on the same Einheitsfahrgestell chassis and had their armour increased to 30 mm. From September 1941, a more powerful engine was installed, providing 180 PS instead of 155 PS. From late 1940 Stand-off angled armour plates were mounted about 50 cm in front of the vehicles. This additional armour was retrofitted to older vehicles and dropped with introduction of the strengthened front armour in July 1942.

The Sd. Kfz. 233 was equipped with a short barrelled (L/24) 7.5cm KwK 37 gun and based on the open-topped superstructure of the Sd. Kfz. 263 (8-Rad) radio vehicle. 109 of these vehicles were built at the Büssing plant between December 1942 and October 1943. A further 10 were converted from 263 chassis in October 1942. This variant of the Sd.Kfz. series entered service during 1942 and remained in use throughout the war. They were issued as a platoon of six vehicles in support of reconnaissance battalions. The official name was Schwerer Panzerspähwagen (7,5 cm) Sd. Kfz. 233.