ATR

During the 1950s, a large number of major automotive spare parts dealers in Germany came together to publish a joint catalog of automotive spare parts. From the mid-1960s on, the first gas stations began selling automotive accessories: This created competition for wholesalers that had been generating high revenues through sales of accessories. For that reason, several dealers decided to combine their purchase operations. For this to occur, a joint legal form had to be created. This is how ATR GmbH came about in 1967. ATR founding members included wholesalers Auto Merkur, Auto Staiger, Matthies, Stahlgruber und Wessels. ATR is the eldest trading cooperation for automotive spare parts in Germany. Founding members Johannes J. Matthies GmbH & Co KG in Hamburg and Stahlgruber GmbH in Poing, Bavaria have remained part of ATR until today.

ATR launched its private label brand Cartechnic for garage products and accessories in 1990. Today, the range includes more than 230 products. The wholesalers involved in ATR pushed on with developing a joint catalog after that, though these efforts only gained momentum with electronic data processing. The ATR partners first showcased their electronic spare parts information system ARTis at the Automechanika trade show in 1992.

As sales and purchases of automotive spare parts and accessories in the 1990s gradually turned into a global business, ATR moved with the times and aspired an internationalization. Its first non-German partners were French parts dealer Groupe Laurent (1991) and Spain’s Gerstenmaier (1992). The foundation of ATR International AG in 1999 created the legal framework for the group-purchasing cooperation’s international expansion.