Minichamps

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Minichamps GmbH & Co. KG
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding May 1, 1990
Seat Aachen , Germany
management Paul G. Lang (Managing Partner) ,
Romy Crombach-Lang (Managing Partner)
Number of employees approx 45
sales approx. 30 million euros
Branch Toy maker
Website www.minichamps.de

VW 1600 , scale 1: 18
Porsche 904 , scale 1: 18

Minichamps is a world of represented manufacturers of high quality die-cast - vehicle models for adults.

The company maintains its headquarters with R&D, marketing, sales and warehouse in Aachen and employs 45 people here. Production takes place in certified factories in China, where around 3,000 employees work exclusively with Minichamps products for the largely manual production. Minichamps was one of the first companies to use this process to try to keep the price of a handmade collector's item within affordable limits for the end customer. The managing partners are the couple Paul G. Lang and Romy Crombach-Lang.

The company was founded as Paul's Model Art GmbH in 1990 and renamed to its current name in 1996. The company has developed and produced more than 8,000 different vehicles as miniatures. Annual production is currently around three million units. In total, Minichamps has produced around 30 million models so far. The market share in the common 1:43 collector's scale is around 60 percent. In 2007, the company received a first prize in four ratings by the “Modell Fahrzeug” magazine. The distribution takes place in Germany through about 1000 specialist dealers.

Customers around the world include celebrities from racing, industry and the media. Some automobile manufacturers such as Daimler, Audi, Porsche and BMW have hired the company to produce official replicas of new vehicle models. Since January 2008, visitors have been able to trace the Minichamps story in the company's own museum in Aachen.

Product range

The annually changing program includes around 1200 different miniatures from the areas of Formula 1 , racing, cars, trucks, buses, vans, old and young timers, agricultural and military vehicles as well as motorcycles in the scales 1: 2, 1: 6, 1: 8 , 1:12, 1:18, 1: 24,1: 43 and 1:87.

Around 600 new products are added every year. It takes around eight months to develop a 1:43 scale model, and around a year for a 1:18 scale due to the larger number of parts and more functions. At times, model series such as Michael Schumacher or McLaren on a scale of 1:64 were also produced under the brand name Micro Champs , but these have since been discontinued.

The prices of individual models are between 30 and 250 euros, especially sought-after vehicle models that are produced in smaller numbers and that were only given to a small group of customers as promotional products have already achieved prices of over 1000 US dollars in online auctions, for example the McLaren F1 from one Promotion of the West cigarette brand. Even the model of Michael Schumacher's Benetton B195 , which was recalled after a production error was discovered , has already achieved high prices at such auctions.

Web links

Commons : Minichamps  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ I'm building car dreams for the living room by J. Philippi-Gerle in Express , February 1, 2007  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 24, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.minichamps.de  
  2. ^ R. Teipel: Great effort for a small car. ( Memento of October 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) In: Aachener Nachrichten , July 22, 2006, p. 8.
  3. ↑ The size is not important, the quality is decisive , by Chr. Eichenberger, Motorsport Aktuell , January 17, 2006, p. 12 ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 24, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.minichamps.de
  4. ↑ Everyone who works at Minichamps is a car fan , Modell Fahrzeug , 01/2008, pp. 94–96  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 24, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.minichamps.de  
  5. ↑ a b Vehicle fleet for H.Reill 's bookshelf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in Welt am Sonntag on December 24, 2006, accessed February 24, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.minichamps.de  
  6. ↑ The size is not important, the quality is decisive , by Chr. Eichenberger, Motorsport Aktuell , January 17, 2006, p. 13 ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 24, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.minichamps.de
  7. ↑ Model entries on hobbyDB
  8. ^ Four first prizes for miniatures , Aachener Nachrichten , December 7, 2007 , accessed January 24, 2008
  9. ↑ Four first prizes for miniatures , an-online, December 7, 2007, 2:07 p.m. , accessed January 24, 2008
  10. ↑ a b Aachen model cars valued all over the world , from A. Bank, Aachener Nachrichten , December 5, 2003 , accessed January 24, 2008
  11. ^ R. Teipel: Great effort for a small car. ( Memento from October 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) In: Aachener Nachrichten. July 22, 2006, p. 9.