RECARO History

From Saddler Master to Global Player.

The seat manufacturer RECARO celebrated the company's 100th birthday in April 2006.

The success story of the present RECARO company began in 1906 in Stuttgart,
as the 32-year old saddler master Wilhelm Reutter founded the company
"Reutter, Wilhelm, Saddler. Spezialitat: Luxus- und Motorwagen, englische Geschirre" (Specialities: Luxury and Motor Vehicles, English Ware). Reutter quickly made a name for itself in the up-and-coming automobile industry which was largely positioned in Stuttgart: Bosch, Maybach and Daimler were the big names which wrote history and laid the building blocks for the present location of mobility, Stuttgart.
 
The business of the saddler master flourished, and in 1910 the company signed with the firm name "Stuttgarter Karosseriewerk Reutter & Co" (Stuttgart Coach Factory of Reutter & Co). The young saddler master was innovative and open to new mobility. In his workshop in 1912, the patented Reutter Reform Coach was produced, which later was called the Cabriolet.
 
Professor Ferdinand Porsche had the prototypes of the VW Beetle constructed by Reutter. Also, after the war, the Porsche and Reutter companies worked closely together. The coach company Reutter became famous worldwide with the Porsche 356. Reutter was also active for BMW and the German Postal Service.
 
The foundation for the present company was laid in 1963, as RECARO was formed as a play on words - Reutter and CAROsserien (coaches). The first RECARO sport seat was introduced in 1965, and in motor racing, the company quickly became a recognized brand name.
 
In 1969 RECARO joined with the Keiper company. Even today RECARO operates with headquarters in Kirchheim as an independent member within the internationally active Keiper Recaro Group, active worldwide in a total of
16 locations.

From this close and ever more intensive collaboration with universities and specialized physicians, a store of knowledge and experience was collected by RECARO which is surely unique worldwide. RECARO had answered the questions "How should people sit?" and "How is the body correctly supported?" early on:
 
1971 RECARO introduced the first seat with integrated seatbelt

1973 RECARO introduced a full shell made of sheet steel as a seat structure

1977 The track-breaking innovation in ergonomics was introduced with pneumatic lumbar support

1984 The first vehicle seat with bracing on both sides was introduced

1991 RECARO introduced a vehicle seat with asymmetrical adjustment as a worldwide innovation

1996 was the introduction of the first racing shell with head protection

2004 The lightest serially-produced seat in the world at that time was brought onto the market as the carbon shell seat of the Porsche Carrera GT

From Saddler Master to Global Player, RECARO, had positioned itself worldwide as the partner in the automobile industry who fulfilled the most difficult demands and who continues to re-invent the mobile seat through revolutionary innovations. Today, RECARO is the exclusive supplier for the top models of Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, Opel, Ford, and Volkswagen. The hybrid lightweight seat developed by RECARO was adopted in series production for the VW Golf R 32 and the Audi RS 4 and many more.