PROFILBARU.COM

Formation	1969; 55 years ago
Founder	Karl Wirth
Founded at	Forst (Baden), Germany
Headquarters	Härkingen, Switzerland
Leader	Oliver Brauner
Staff	7,000

Ronal AG^[1] is a manufacturer of aluminum alloy wheels for cars and commercial vehicles as well as shower solutions and bathroom furniture based in Härkingen, Switzerland. The company employs approximately 7000 personnel^[2] and produces both cast and forged wheels. The company is active in both the OEM and aftermarket for cars and commercial vehicles. In 2023, the former SanSwiss Group became Ronal Bathrooms, the company's bathroom and wellness division.

The Ronal Group has 12 wheel production facilities, six bathroom furniture production plants, two factories for tool manufacturing, and a logistics center and has its own sales locations in eleven countries. The company produces approximately 16 million wheels annually for the automotive industry and its own brands Ronal and Speedline Truck.^[3] Ronal AG develops and produces its own production tools. This takes place at the sites Cantanhede in Portugal and Härkingen in Switzerland. The company also has its own research and development center in Forst, Germany.

Ronal also owns Ronal Bathrooms AG (shower solutions and bathroom furniture), based in Gunzgen, Switzerland.

History

Ronal was founded in Germany in 1969 by Karl Wirth.^[4] The entrepreneur and Formula V driver saw a need for aluminum wheels.^[5] Wirth thus became one of the pioneers of light alloy wheels on the global market. The first factory was opened back in 1978 in France. In 2007 Ronal AG purchased Italian wheel manufacturer Speedline,^[6] which covers the commercial vehicle segment including trucks, trailers and buses. This helped the group expand into the racing and Formula 1 sectors as well as into weight-optimized flow forming technology. 83 FIA titles have been won on Speedline Corse wheels.^[7] In 2012, Ronal expanded its range to include forged wheels with the majority stake in Fullchamp in Taiwan. In 2013, Ronal AG joined forces with the Australian company, Carbon Revolution, to launch the first one-piece carbon wheel on the European market.^[8] With the acquisition of APP-Tech from Padova, Italy, the Group expanded its capacity in the forged wheel sector. In 2016, the Ronlog logistics center was opened in Forst, Germany.

In 2019, the Ronal Group celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In 2023, Ronal and the German private equity company Callista completed the sale of the subsidiary Speedline S.r.l. including the brands “SpeedlineE” and “Speedline CorseE” with legal effect from October 1, 2023. The Ronal Group will continue its support activities for the Italian market as well as Group-wide activities in its new company Ronal Italia Services S.r.l. Ronal acquired the companies with the associated brands Glass 1989, Karol (both Italy) and Kudos (UK, South Africa) for the strategic expansion of the Bathroom and Wellness Division. In 2024, the SanSwiss division was renamed Ronal Bathrooms. The SanSwiss product brand is renamed Ronal.^[9]

Divisions

OEM: Original equipment manufacturing for automobile manufacturers around the world
Cars: Aftermarket parts sold with the brands Ronal, Speedline Corse
Commercial vehicles: OEM and aftermarket parts for trucks, buses and trailers with the brand Speedline Truck
Sanitary: Ronal Bathrooms, specialized in the production of high-quality shower units.

Technology

Ronal AG works to make the wheels lighter with technologies such as flowforming, forging and undercuting. Furthermore, Ronal AG uses process for the surface finishing like multi color rim (MCR), pad printing, laser and diamond cutting and polishing.

External links

References

^ Ronal AG Archived 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, Handelsregister des Kantons Solothurn, retrieved 9 March 2016.
^ "Ronal AG facts and figures". Ronal AG. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
^ "Ronal AG". Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Schon 1978 wurde das erste Werk in Frankreich eröffnet, heute werden in 10 Werken auf 3 Kontinenten über 19 Mio. Räder pro Jahr produziert.
^ Oberschmidt, Norbert (2015). "Von der Piste auf die Straße". Das Rad (in German). Ronal AG. p. 132. ISBN 978-3-89735-869-0. Als weiterer deutscher Hersteller bot die Karl Wirth GmbH in Walldorf ab April 1969 Räder unter der Bezeichnung "RONAL" an.
^ McCourt, Mark J. (June 2015). "Ronal - This innovative wheel firm quickly became an OEM supplier of choice". Hemmings. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016. Surprisingly, he found his potential business clients were more interested in the cast-aluminum wheels that he'd fitted to his Opel; those wheels had been fitted by Norbert Oberschmidt from wheel manufacturer Remotec, where Norbert occasionally worked while studying math and physics. Karl recognized Norbert as a fellow "car guy" and convinced him to join his firm, instructing customers in using Ron-Testequipment. A month after the men joined forces, Karl started selling aluminum wheels, and tasked Norbert with designing wheels in-house.
^ "Ronal History" (PDF). Ronal Group Homepage. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016. The latest and most remarkable development was the acquisition of the majority of Speedline Italy, in May 2007.
^ "Speedline Corse Ltd". Ronal Group. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2018. In partnership with leading motorsport teams and car manufacturers, Speedline has won 83 FIA sanctioned world championship titles including Formula 1, World Rally Championship, Sports Prototype and Rally Raid.
^ Achorn, George (4 December 2014). "Essen Motor Show 2014". VW Vortex. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016. In addition, Speedline shared again its carbon fiber "Carbon Revolution CR-9", a one-piece carbon fiber wheel and the first of its kind to be introduced in Europe. The wheel sets new standards in terms of weight, performance and comfort and is already approved for use in Switzerland and the UK.
^ "History". Ronal Group. Retrieved 2024-12-06.