Manufacturer Alloys

[DannyScene]

Ok this is something I've been wondering about since breakfast

Do most manufacturers design and build their own alloy wheels or do establshed alloy wheel companies win contracts to design and build alloys for car manufacturers?

I'd guess the car manufacturers would rather keep it in house so they can do all quality testing etc?

I know its not the most interesting question but I thought where better to ask than here (or google I suppose now I think of it)

[300bhp/ton]

DannyScene said:

Ok this is something I've been wondering about since breakfast

Do most manufacturers design and build their own alloy wheels or do establshed alloy wheel companies win contracts to design and build alloys for car manufacturers?

I'd guess the car manufacturers would rather keep it in house so they can do all quality testing etc?

I know its not the most interesting question but I thought where better to ask than here (or google I suppose now I think of it)

As a general rule of thumb most car makers contract out and buy in many parts. Which means at the factory it's mostly assembly, rather than actually building entirely.

This isn't always true, Jaguar did all the leather and wood work in house for the X300 series XJ's and Morgan even machine their own nuts and bolts.

I suspect most alloy wheels are manufactured by a 3rd party company. Although that company may be owned by the car maker in some cases. In terms of designs, I suspect this is all the car makers, although much design work is also farmed out, hence why you can get many cars penned by Bertone or Pininfarina.