Wega (company)
| Wega GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1923 |
| Seat | Fellbach |
| management | Sony Cooperation |
| Number of employees | 1,200 (1975), then takeover |
| Branch | Consumer electronics |
The Vega Radio GmbH (originally Württembergische Radio-Gesellschaft mbH ) was founded in 1923 by German companies for consumer electronics with headquarters in Fellbach in Stuttgart . In 1975 the company was bought by a subsidiary of Sony Corporation .
history
At the end of 1924, Hugo Mezger, owner of a photo and radio business in Stuttgart, took over the Württembergische Radio-Gesellschaft mbH in Stuttgart, which had only been founded a year earlier. The first radio receivers were brought onto the market in the same year. In 1926 the company was named Wega as the company name (company). From 1936 the company produced superhets . During the war years, in addition to war production, export equipment was also produced. In 1946 Wega developed an all-current dual-circuit receiver that was built around 15,000 times.
After Dieter Motte, a son-in-law of Mezger, took over the management of the company, the four-circuit all-current super Regina, built in 1949, was also very successful. In 1952/1953 Wega moved into a new company building in Fellbach. In the 1950s and 1960s in particular, the company gained somewhat in importance. From 1965 Wega began to have radios designed by external design studios: the “Stereobar 3300” was designed by Verner Panton . In 1969 Wega commissioned Hartmut Esslinger's newly founded studio to design the devices. The collaboration with Esslinger Design lasted until the early 1980s and produced a number of exceptionally designed radio and television sets. So Wega had for a short time a status similar to that in Kronberg im Taunus based company Braun , located since 1955 with Hans Gugelot later and Dieter Rams of good form had prescribed. The radio and television sets designed by Hartmut Esslinger were, however, more fashionable than the strictly rationalistic Braun design. The color television set color 3020 and the compact system concept 51k , for which a special stand was available, were included in the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1975 a subsidiary of Sony Corp. bought the family business. From then on, the electronics of the devices came from the parent company . In 1980, half of the Sony products, mainly Trinitron color televisions, were manufactured at the Fellbach headquarters with 600 employees , and the company was renamed to the Sony Wega production company. From 1998 to 2005 Sony used the Wega brand for high-end televisions.
Web links
- Full history of the company at radiomuseum.org.
- Private website with a comprehensive collection of operating instructions, data sheets and advertisements
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d spiegel.de of July 28, 1980, One day superfluous , available online on August 26, 1980.
- ↑ manager-magazin.de of September 10, 2013, Frog's milestones from four decades , accessed on August 20, 2020.
- ↑ https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/wega_concept_51k_51_k.html , accessed on August 28, 2020.
- ↑ https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2014.108/ , accessed on August 28, 2020.