Metabo
Written by: Vinnie van Rooij
Metabo GmbH is a German manufacturer of power tools, such as machine polishers that are used in the detailing community. The company was founded in the 1920’s and has a very wide range of products, not all of these are used while detailing.
Metabo history
Metabo started out as the Metallbohrdreher, which is German for “metal hand drill”. The company was founded in 1924 by Albrecht Schnizler in Nürtingen. After his very first hand drill sold 50.000 units, the company Schnizler GmbH was founded by both Albrecht and Julius Closs. Julius was the owner of a local brewery called Sonnenbrauerei which translates into “Sun brewery”. When the company grew, they moved into the rooms of the brewery, with Walter Rauch becoming an associatie in 1927, who managed the distrubution of the products both nationally and internationally. In 1932 they renamed the company into Metabowerke Closs, Rauch & Schnizler KG. During the second world war, the company was spared serious damage, but a fire in 1945 destroyed almost 75% of the manufacturing area. Rebuilding everything took 3 years and finished in 1948 with the construction of a new construction plant beginnen in 1953. In 2016, the company was sold to Hitachi Koki, which is part of the Hitachi Group. The Hitachi Group in turn sold the entire Hitachi Koki selection to HK Holding Co. Ltd which is owned by KKR.
Metabo products
The most prominent products made by Metabo are the various power tools. From electric saws, drills, angle grinders, impact drills and many more. The current range holds hundreds of different tools, witch each a wide variety of optional extra’s and accessories. Within the world of detailing, the most coming products used are the Metabo polishers, such as the PE 15-20 RT, or the excentric sander (for wetsanding) such as the SXE 3150. The company also makes several vacuum cleaners, including wet/dry cleaners for cleaning interiors. Most of these items are also available in cordless versions.
Metabo company information
Metabo GmbH has its own company website and is sparingly active on social media. Seeing as the company offers many products that are not relevant for the world of detailing, much of their content is not of interest for most detailers and weekend warriors. The company is not often seen on detailing related events or meetings, because most resellers and webshop owners rather stock brands that have more focus on detailing and valeting. The company is also not often mentioned on detailing related fora or message boards for the same reason that is mentioned above.
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