“At HRE we pride ourselves on manufacturing the finest and most highly engineered performance wheels in the world ,” says CEO Chris Luhnow. “We have customers around the globe that demand perfection, and opening a new division in Germany was the next logical step as the business continues to grow.”
HRE GmbH will be serving motoring enthusiasts, dealers and vehicle manufacturers in the European Union, North Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Russia with the same lines that North American customers receive with the added benefit of having local sales support and concierge- level customer service, according to its customers are accustomed to Luhnow.
The European office will work on growing its customer base and representing HRE at shows, races and events across Europe and beyond. It will also stock popular wheel models in sizes and fitments for a variety of European market sports and exotic cars, including Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Ferrari. Custom wheels will also be available.
The effort will be led by Alex Sittel, an automotive industry veteran who has spent his entire career in the industry. “HRE is an iconic brand worldwide, and we will finally bring it to Europe,” he reports.
“Its success in motorsports, coupled with German TUV certification, will show European customers that HRE is a serious contender in the European wheel market,” says Sittel.
“To join the company is certainly outstanding,” he observes. “I am joining the best in the industry and look forward to working with the team in California.”
This announcement comes on the heels of HRE's recent unveiling of several new wheel lines, as well as several motorsports accomplishments, including a Grand-Am road racing championship with the Fall-Line Motorsports BMW team, which it sponsors.
Luhnow says this is also one of the first times a North American performance parts manufacturer has opened a division to export products to Europe, “all indicators of the brand’s continued strength.”
Established more than 30 years ago and based in San Diego, the company “has been focused on creating the ultimate balance of performance and style,” he recounts.
“We decided long ago that to produce the best wheels in the world, we needed to control everything from engineering to manufacturing in-house,” says Luhnow, who has been the firm’s chairman since 1993, becoming CEO in 2006.
From 2000 through 2006, Luhnow was a founding partner in Evercore’s $100-million venture capital unit. He previously was the president and co-founder of Petstore.com and CEO of Flightways Manufacturing.
Luhnow received a BA in Economics from Stanford University in 1986 and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business in 1991.
For more information, visit www.hrewheels.com.
