Westfalia-Automotive – 80 years and still going strong

Westfalia-Automotive, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of towbars and electrical wiring kits, celebrate 83 years in business in 2017. Westfalia-Automotive towbars are developed in conjunction with the world’s leading motor vehicle manufacturers.

The company was originally founded by Johann Bernard Knobel in 1844 as a forge in Wiedenbruck, Germany, a busy transport hub. The first carriage was manufactured in 1876 and under the management of the founder’s second son, Franz Knobel, the company was soon producing many different models of carriage.

With the launch of the motor vehicle the Knobels got into the automotive business and took over the representation of manufacturers’ Oakland, Pontiac, Citroen and BMW-Dixi.

1927 saw the production of the first open box trailers quickly followed in 1929 by the production of special bodies for car chassis and drivers cabs for lorries.

In 1932 Franz Knobel, the eldest son of Franz Sr, invented the ball hitch for connecting a towing vehicle and trailer. This invention was granted a patent on the 14th March 1934, representing the birth of the product that laid the foundations of Westfalia-Automotive as we know it today.

Westfalia-Automotive became the first manufacturer to offer a removable towbar with the launch of the nut system in 1966 and in 1987 brought to market the first fully automatic removable towing hitch.

In 1994 the European Directive on towbars (EC 94/20) was passed and Westfalia-Automotive obtained the first certification (#1) approved under this directive. In 1995 Westfalia-Automotive commenced production of the world’s first aluminium hitch.

In 1999 the company was split according to the different product areas, towbars, trailers and campervans and Westfalia-Automotive was founded focusing purely on its core area of expertise, towbars. In 2002 Westfalia-Automotive launched the first electrically swivelling hitch.

2008 saw the launch of Westfalia-Automotive’s innovative, towbar mounted load carrying system, the BC 60. Ideal for everyone who loves the outdoors the BC 60 is a convenient and flexible load carrier which holds up to 2 cycles. If you’re looking for additional storage space a range of accessories are available for use with the BC 60.

In 2016 Westfalia-Automotive completed the sale of Westfalia-Automotive and Terwa, collectively referred to as the Westfalia-Automotive-Group, to Horizon Global Corporation (NYSE: HZN), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of branded towing and trailering equipment. Effective immediately, Dr. Bernd Welzel will transition management duties to Paul Caruso, Horizon Global’s Regional Vice President and Managing Director – Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Today Westfalia-Automotive offer over 1,700 different types of towbar, all of which are precision engineered to perfectly match each individual vehicle make and model. Westfalia have produced over 20 million towbars and current production exceeds 1 million towbars and 250,000 vehicle specific electrical wiring kits per annum.