A joint venture between Bosal International N.V. and ORIS GmbH of Germany has created the market leader and largest manufacturer of towbars in Europe.
The combined Bosal-ORIS business will be incorporated into Bosal’s Automotive Carrier Systems division.
The joint venture is the latest move in Bosal’s strategy to become the market leader in the growing European towbar market. The expansion of Bosal’s towbar operations started in Eastern Europe in 2004 after it signed a joint venture with Hungarian manufacturer Autoflex. In 2005, Bosal also acquired Hungarian towball manufacturer Techniflex and recently Bosal grew its towbar operations further, signing a joint venture with Autoflex in Russia.
The new Bosal-ORIS joint venture will seek to maximise benefits to existing and future customers through increased economies of scale and a commitment to innovation, technology and quality of service.
Karel Bos (1961), chief executive of Bosal International, said: “I welcome the ORIS operation and its employees into the Bosal Group family. This new joint venture represents a formidable opportunity to maximise synergies and share best practice between two great businesses in the OE and aftermarket towbar sectors. The new venture will be ideally placed to capitalise on the combined strengths of innovation and customer service, while increasing our share of the growing European market.”
Bosal International has 42 manufacturing sites worldwide and a turnover in 2005 in excess of € 815 million. Bosal is a major global OEM supplier for exhaust systems and its extensive knowledge of world-class manufacturing combined with its expertise in towbar design will be a valuable source of synergies for the joint venture as it seeks expansion for its towbar operations throughout Europe. Bosal is already established as an OE manufacturer of toolkits and jacks at its Wurmlingen plant in Germany, and the joint venture will increase its manufacturing presence in the largest automotive market in Europe.
ORIS has a turnover of € 85 million and employs 550 people across its three manufacturing sites in Germany. The company is best known for its innovative retractable towbar technology and its strong market presence with detachable and fixed systems. In addition, ORIS is a tier one OE supplier of equipment for off-road vehicles, components for convertible hood mechanisms and wind deflectors for convertible cars, for which it is the market leader.
The joint venture will keep the very strong ORIS brand identity and its reputation for excellence in research and development, technology and customer service. Jörg Riehle, chief executive of ORIS, will be appointed as Managing Director of the Automotive Carrier Systems OEM operations of the Bosal Group.
Jörg Riehle, chief executive of ORIS, said: “I am excited about the prospects the joint venture presents for the operations and staff of both parties. Through joining the Bosal Group, the ORIS brand will go from strength to strength with promising opportunities to enlarge its potential market. Bosal will gain from ORIS’ long-standing presence in Germany, and it will take advantage of this solid foundation to secure a significant extension of its customer base here. We are confident that we will realise substantial long-term synergies from the joint venture.”