Gemballa

Gemballa GmbH is an automobile manufacturing and tuning company based in Leonberg, Germany, specializing in customization and aftermarket parts mainly for Porsche cars. Gemballa was founded by and named after Uwe Gemballa in 1981¹. In May 2010, the Gemballa factory was seized by German authorities and shut down following the disappearance of Uwe Gemballa who was later found dead in South Africa. CEO Andreas Schwarz and investor Steffen Korbach were able to buy the brand rights and name rights from Gemballa in August 2010 and refounded the company as Gemballa GmbH. In 2016, Steffen Korbach became the sole CEO of the company and Alexander Schwarz stepped down. Korbach reportedly also took over the shares in the company from his former partner Schwarz. A Gemballa GTR producing , based on a Porsche 911 (996), held the lap record for street legal vehicles at the Nürburgring in 2001 when Wolfgang Kaufmann lowered it to 7:32:52 min, taking the record from Porsche tuner TechArt. It was later beaten by a Porsche Carrera GT, by less than a second. ) ) ) ) )

Gemballa GmbH is an automobile manufacturing and tuning company based in Leonberg, Germany, specializing in customization and aftermarket parts mainly for Porsche cars. Gemballa was founded by and named after Uwe Gemballa in 1981. In May 2010, the Gemballa factory was seized by German authorities and shut down following the disappearance of Uwe Gemballa who was later found dead in South Africa. CEO Andreas Schwarz and investor Steffen Korbach were able to buy the brand rights and name rights from Gemballa in August 2010 and refounded the company as Gemballa GmbH. In 2016, Steffen Korbach became the sole CEO of the company and Alexander Schwarz stepped down. Korbach reportedly also took over the shares in the company from his former partner Schwarz. A Gemballa GTR producing , based on a Porsche 911 (996), held the lap record for street legal vehicles at the Nürburgring in 2001 when Wolfgang Kaufmann lowered it to 7:32:52 min, taking the record from Porsche tuner TechArt. It was later beaten by a Porsche Carrera GT, by less than a second. )]] )]] )]] )]] )]]

Notable cars

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Current Gemballa cars

The actual Gemballa cars are predominantly based on Porsche and McLaren cars: Gemballa Avalanche based on Porsche 997 Gemballa Tornado based on Porsche Cayenne Gemballa GT Aero 1/2/3 based on Porsche Cayenne Gemballa Mirage GT based on Porsche Carrera GT Gemballa Mistrale based on Porsche Panamera Gemballa GT based on Porsche 991 Gemballa GT based on McLaren MP4-12C

Death of Uwe Gemballa

On February 17, 2010, it was reported that Uwe Gemballa had gone missing in Johannesburg, South Africa while on a business trip. In October 2010, Gemballa was found dead west of Pretoria, having been suffocated and wrapped in plastic. It is suspected that his murder was a result of a money laundering operation which turned against him. Others maintain that Gemballa was murdered because he had refused to participate in a criminal activity. On October 29, 2010, Thabiso Mpshe, 28, from Pretoria, pleaded guilty to charges related to his involvement in the murder of Uwe Gemballa in Johannesburg. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In 2015, three additional men, Thabo Mogapi, Kagiso Ledwaba and Garlond Holworthy, were also convicted of charges relating to the kidnap and murder of Gemballa. Their sentencing hearing began on 30 November 2015, and the mastermind is suspected to be Czech criminal Radovan Krejčíř.

Gemballa Racing (2011¹–present)

Gemballa established its racing division called Gemballa Racing in 2011, using McLaren MP4-12C GT3 vehicles instead of Porsches. They are scheduled to race in FIA GT3 European Championship in 2012.

References

External links

Gemballa website Gemballa Racing website

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370467455 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.