Mahle Behr

MAHLE Behr GmbH & Co. KG
legal form	GmbH & Co. KG
founding	1905
Seat	Stuttgart Germany
management	Bernd Eckl, Member of the MAHLE Group Management, Head of the Thermal Management Business Unit
Branch	Automotive supplier
Website	www.mahle.com

The MAHLE Behr GmbH & Co. KG , Stuttgart , is a subsidiary of the automotive supplier Mahle GmbH . In 2013, MAHLE took over the majority stake in Behr GmbH, a global original equipment manufacturer for vehicle air conditioning and engine cooling for cars and commercial vehicles. Since the takeover and name change, MAHLE Behr has been part of the thermal management division in the MAHLE Group. The company is a member of Südwestmetall .

history

In 1905 Julius Friedrich Behr joined the workshop founded by Gustav Zoller for the construction of car radiators. In 1907, Behr took over the workshop as the Süddeutsche Kühlerfabrik Julius Fr. Behr (SKF). In 1910 he bought a site in Feuerbach near Stuttgart and built a factory. Customers included companies such as Benz & Cie. and NSU . In 1916, SKF employed 170 people.

1921 was the first appearance at the Berlin Motor Show . During the First World War, in which automobile production almost came to a standstill, the manufacture of radiator motors for aircraft became the company's second mainstay. 1930 SKF delivered 90 cooler for the day Model A of Ford . After Julius Friedrich Behr's death, his son Manfred Behr took over the management together with his mother and officially joined the company four years later. The first climatic wind tunnel was built in 1937, which made it possible to examine engine cooling systems independently of extensive test drives. The Mercedes Silver Arrows were tested there and equipped with Behr coolers. Together with the Porsche development office, oil coolers were developed for the first prototypes of the VW Beetle .

In 1939, shortly before the Second World War, Behr manufactured 100,000 car radiators and 25,000 aircraft radiators. In 1945 the war-damaged production facilities were rebuilt. At first, radiator repairs kept the company afloat until regular radiators were produced again in the following year. In 1949, SKF entered the heating / air conditioning business with vehicle heating.

In 1957 the company produced the first air conditioning system for cars in Europe. In 1968 the international expansion began through participations and start-ups abroad. In the period that followed, there were numerous innovations in the production process and in the cooling systems due to increasing automation. In the 1980s, Behr used an electronically controlled fully automatic air conditioning system for the first time in the 7 Series BMW . 1989 Behr took the name of Behr GmbH & Co. on.

In 1990 Dr. Manfred Behr, who ran the company from 1952 to 1985 as managing partner. In 2005, Behr celebrated the company's 100th anniversary. In 2006 there was a joint venture with Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. under the name Behr Hella Service GmbH to supply the independent spare parts market.

In 2009, Behr announced cuts at German production sites. It is planned to close production in Stuttgart (oil coolers and large coolers for industrial technology) and to restructure the locations in Kirchberg (heating and air conditioning systems for cars and trucks) and Kornwestheim (thermostats). In total, 440 jobs are affected.

In February 2010 Mahle GmbH took over 60 percent of the industrial area with 900 employees at five locations in Germany. BEHR Industry is now called MAHLE Industrial Thermal Systems GmbH & Co. KG.

In May 2013, Mahle GmbH increased its stake in the Behr Group from 36.85 percent to around 51 percent.

Behr GmbH & Co. KG has been operating as MAHLE Behr GmbH & Co. KG since October 2013.