50 years of the RONAL GROUP

A summary of 2019, our anniversary year

Date: 15. January 2020

In the past year, the RONAL GROUP celebrated 50 years in existence with all employees at all locations around the world. The anniversary roadshow, which was named “Anniversary World Tour 2019” began at the beginning of May at our headquarters in Härkingen in Switzerland and ended in November in Nantou, Taiwan, the location of the subsidiary company Fullchamp. Our presence at trade fairs also fully reflected the anniversary year. And last but not least, on the occasion of our milestone birthday, we also issued our cult wheel RONAL R50 AERO in gold.

The anniversary year was full of exciting encounters, retrospection and prospects. The RONAL GROUP would like to thank its loyal customers, but also those who made its success possible in the first place through their commitment: the employees numbering more than 8,000. Therefore, the “Anniversary World Tour”, a worldwide roadshow, was also at the center of the brilliant anniversary year. At each stop, employees were able to explore pavilions with information on the history of the company and enjoy an exciting program of show acts, live music and interactive games related to our PLANBLUE sustainability concept. At the start of the celebrations the anniversary convoy, consisting of five vehicles, always rolled in. Each automobile represented one of the decades from 1970 to 2019 and was, of course, equipped with RONAL GROUP wheels.

Here are some interesting facts and figures about these events:

  • The diameter of the main tent was 38m; the height from its highest point to the ground was 11m.
  • The material was transported using three semitrailer trucks and a trailer. The total weight, excluding the trucks and trailer, was about 75t. Additionally, there was a semitrailer with about 11t of technical equipment. About 4,000 meters of cables were laid.
  • A wooden floor was placed in the tent. This was created especially for the RONAL GROUP tour.
  • The area of the stage was 120m2.
  • A 7m by 4m high-resolution LED wall was enthroned above the stage. Through the use of LED technology in the show lighting, about 25,000W of energy was saved per hour of operation – about as much as the annual electricity consumption in a four-person household.
  • The tents were erected and dismantled by 16 people from four nations – the building work took about 2½ days and the dismantling work, 1½ days.

The trade fair presences at the IAA in Frankfurt and at the Essen Motor Show were also themed entirely around “50 years of great passion” and pointed out the connection between past and future: At both trade fairs we presented our first OE wheel, the 13-inch RS, on the original vehicle from that time, a Ford Capri RS2600 V6. The wheel for this now rare cult coupé marked our first order from an OEM 50 years ago. These and many other long-standing partnerships with car manufacturers were celebrated at our anniversary stands. As well as looking back, we also gave an impressive demonstration of where the journey can go in the future: With the world’s first tested one-piece 3D-printed aluminum wheel.