Vehicle Technology

Company history

A success story: customer-oriented for more than ninety years

On 11.11.1931, master locksmith Alois Kober took over a small locksmith's shop in Kötz. That was when the AL-KO Vehicle Technology Group began. It’s fair to say that quite a lot has happened since then: The small village smithy is now the epitome of high-quality chassis and chassis components for trailers, leisure and commercial vehicles.

The founding years: from Germany to the world

As the master locksmith took over a small locksmith's shop in Kötz, the story of the AL-KO Vehicle Technology Group began. Even during the war, with his ingenuity Alois Kober managed to keep the locksmith's shop running and in the 1950s developed into a small industrial business. Thanks to a clever idea by son Herbert, to combine loose handbrake levers and loose sprockets, a lot of installation time could be saved. This idea was popular and the Kobers received their first orders. The success of the handbrake lever was followed by the overrun brake, with which AL-KO was the first supplier in Germany with a tested and certified brake of this type. In accordance with the motto "Quality for Life", numerous products and solutions were developed in the following decades, which led to the steady growth of the family business. The first foreign subsidiary was founded in Austria in 1961, before further subsidiaries in England, France, Italy and Switzerland followed in 1970. In the mid 1980s, transatlantic branches opened in the USA (1983) and Australia (1986).

Safety and comfort: the company moves into the caravan business

In the 1970s, the company entered the caravan business: with the automatic reverse, an overrun brake was developed that made it possible to drive backwards - without the inconvenience of getting out and blocking. A breakthrough came in 1985 with an innovative chassis for the Fiat Ducato. The forefather of today's AMC chassis offered more space in the vehicle as well as a more stable position while driving. In the 1990s, the range included many products that are still important today. These included safety cable winches, jockeys wheels and the well-known AKS 3004. The stabiliser coupling enables safe and relaxed transport and travel and reduces snaking and pitching movements of the vehicle combination. Since the 2000s, AL-KO has been making caravan driving safer with an electronic stabilisation system, the ATC Trailer Control. The built-in sensor nips any incipient swaying in the bud by the intelligent system giving the caravan a minimal braking impulse. Even dangerous evasive manoeuvres can be mastered safely with the help of ATC.

Key turning point: DexKo is founded

A key turning point in the company's history happened at the end of 2016. The vehicle technology division was spun off from the family business and merged with Dexter Axle. AL-KO Vehicle Technology has since been an independent brand under the umbrella of the DexKo Global group. Since then, we have focused on innovations for the leisure and commercial vehicle industry.