Wulf Gaertner Autoparts sells subsidiary IMC in USA to AutoZone

Hamburg, September 02, 2014. Wulf Gaertner Autoparts AG has evolved successfully from a classic dealer to a brand supplier of automotive spare parts in the independent aftermarket with its own brands, MEYLE and MEYLE-HD and its own production. As the next logical step on this path, the company has sold its subsidiary IMC in the USA which supplies garages with numerous branded products, in particular for European vehicles. The company has succeeded in finding a buyer with a promising future in the shape of the listed AutoZone Inc. Wulf Gaertner Autoparts AG continues to focus on developing its manufacturing expertise, and it is investing in its production plant for steering components, among other projects. 

Since it was set up by Wulf Gaertner in 1958, the company has grown from a small export and trading house for original spare parts to a leading developer and producer of its own high-quality brand products. The limited liability company became a stock corporation, and a two-man enterprise became a medium-sized company with 380 staff in its Hamburg headquarters alone. 
What prompted Wulf Gaertner in his day as a classic exporter with exclusive contracts for the aftermarket to set up IMC in USA, a business which he promoted with great success for several decades, is now restricting Wulf Gaertner Autoparts AG from distributing its own MEYLE products on the American continent. 
 

The sale of IMC in Los Angeles and its 17 offices in USA therefore represents the next logical step towards further growth in the American market.
Wulf Gaertner Autoparts AG is aligned as a brand supplier with its own production, true to its vision of being known as "the ones with the better parts". This is the strategy rigorously pursued by the company which is managed by its owners. The expansion of the company's own steering components plant in Corlu, Turkey, with even better tuned production processes, and a large investment in its machinery in order to increase quantities, will shortly be completed.
AutoZone is an international player in the sale of spare parts in the independent aftermarket, listed on the stock exchange and with sales of US$ 9.5 billion in 2014, it constitutes a true heavyweight in the sector. AutoZone, with over 5,000 locations in North America and Mexico, will bring an enormous increase in market share for the MEYLE and MEYLE-HD brands on this continent.