August will see Christian Morawa assume the role of chief executive officer of the Alcar Group. Alexander Riklin, the long-serving current chief executive officer, will continue to work alongside Morawa until the end of the current 2024/25 fiscal year. In February 2025, Mr Riklin will transition to the Alcar Group’s advisory board, where he will oversee the strategic direction of the company.
Alcar managing director has left the company in order to “continue his career in another industry”. According to a joint letter signed by Frohner and Alcar CEO Dr Alexander Riklin, the company “sincerely regret his decision and would like to thank him for his commitment and loyalty during his 25 years long work for Alcar.”
With the AEZ Forged Series, Alcar says its AEZ brand has “entered the premium class of light alloy wheels.” The first Forged Series model to be released is the AEZ Steam.forged, a wheel designed exclusively with the Tesla S and X in mind. The Steam.forged is ECE approved – a first for an AEZ forged alloy rim – and 100 per cent TPMS compatible.
A new Dezent alloy rim has been launched to meet growing demand in the van market. Suited to models such as the Mercedes V Class and VW T5/T6 Crafter, the Dezent Van offers a combination of looks and very high load capabilities. Alcar quips that the new rim is ‘Van’tastic.
A new five-spoke, one-piece cast alloy rim has joined the Dezent portfolio. Called the TY, the rim was developed to offer an optimal balance between material strength and weight, and is available in silver or dark grey – graphite matte, as Dezent calls it – finishes.
If you’ve bought a new car any time recently, or indeed since the start of the century, chances are it arrived with alloy rims as standard. Alloys are well established as the fitment of choice in Europe, and widespread OEM take-up has been accompanied by rising expectations regarding quality. The knock-on effect of this has also influenced the aftermarket: Amongst those meeting demand for higher quality products by investing in their facilities is the Alcar Group, which recently ploughed around 7.3 million euros into the final stages of the manufacturing process.
Continued high demand for its Revvo range has prompted Dotz to launch a ‘black edition’ of the cross-spoke rim. The matt black alloy rim is produced using the SR3 paint technology introduced by Dotz manufacturer Alcar; this three-layer salt resistant combination of primer, pain and finish coats protects the Revvo black edition (and all rims given the SR3 treatment) from damage caused by snow slush and road salt.
The complete takeover of Alcar Slovakia, s.r.o., which took effect on 19 January, is said to “underline the Alcar Group’s engagement in the Slovakian market”. The move saw Alcar increase its stake in the Slovakian business from 51 per cent by a further 49 percentage points, buying out the share that was previously held by the LF Group s.r.o. as minority shareholder.
On 9 June Alcar Deutschland GmbH took over 100 per cent of DBV Würzburg GmbH’s tyres, rims and lubricants business units in a bid to expand its distribution network. DBV’s filling stations business unit will remain with Andreas Bathon, the company’s former owner. As well as expansion in general, as a result of the takeover, Alcar Deutschland has set a course for the strategically important fitted units business segment and hopes to increase online sales, while also expanding the Alcar Group’s own product range.
The Tire Cologne – the Koelnmesse organised rival exhibition to Messe Essen’s Reifen series, commencing in 2018 – has fired the starting pistol in its registration phase. The exhibition, which will take place in Cologne at the same time as Reifen 2018 in Essen (29 May to 1 June 2018), will feature important tyre and wheel business players from across the industry.
As sole UK distributor of the alloy wheel brands produced by the Alcar Group – AEZ, Dezent, Dotz and Enzo – Wheelwright Ltd is supplied from the Austrian firm’s European facilities, including the Neuenrade-Küntrop plant in Germany, which in April was renamed from AEZ Produktion GmbH to Alcar Leichtmetallräder Produktion GmbH. This is Alcar’s main alloy wheel production facility; the plant exclusively caters to the aftermarket and has a production capacity between one and 1.2 million aluminium rims. The production portfolio covers all four abovementioned brands – these are manufactured in 14 to 22-inch sizes for passenger cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles.
German alloy rim manufacturer AEZ Produktion GmbH, producer of the Dotz, Dezent, Enzo and AEZ brands, has been renamed Alcar Leichtmetallräder Produktion GmbH. The new name is valid immediately, however the company states that aside from this one change, all is business as usual – “all terms and conditions, such as sales and shipment policies, remain unchanged.”
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