ATESTEO takes over leading road test service provider straesser

2017-09-11

Wolfgang Schmitz, Chairman of the Management Board of ATESTEO, Rolf Strässer, Managing Director of straesser Group and Dr. Georg Bletschacher, CFO and Member of the Management Board, sign the agreement for the official acquisition (from left to right).

  • Two strong testing services providers combine their testing expertise im Testing-Bereich
  • With this investment, ATESTEO continues its growth course

ATESTEO has acquired a majority stake in the straesser Group, a globally active company in the field of road trials. Both companies signed a corresponding agreement on 8 September 2017. With this investment, ATESTEO, the world’s leading drivetrain testing specialist for the automotive industry, is expanding its range of products in the field of road trials, opening up significant growth potential. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Rolf Strässer, Managing Director of straesser Group, said, “ATESTEO is a strong partner with whom we will develop ourselves from a driving services provider to a full-service provider for vehicle testing and road trials. Together, we offer the industry a comprehensive testing portfolio from one source and would like to continue to grow, especially in the area of services related to autonomous driving.”

With the investment, the range of services offered by ATESTEO now extends to pre-series and series production tests, vehicle endurance runs, vehicle testing seven days a week in three-shift operation, driving tests on public roads or on the test track, and workshop activities for test vehicles.

“We are continuously developing our portfolio of services. By acquiring a stake in the straesser Group, the leading company in vehicle driving services, we as ATESTEO are expanding our range of services in this important growth area. We are pleased to continue our course of expansion together with the 200 employees of the straesser Group at three German locations and additional locations in Europe,” explained Diplom-Ingenieur Wolfgang Schmitz, Chairman of the Management Board of ATESTEO. straesser customers now have access to the complete testing program from ATESTEO — road trials on the short and long tracks, including equipping the vehicle with measurement technology, acquiring data, and evaluating data. These competencies are particularly advantageous for our customers in new technologies for autonomous driving and alternative vehicle driving systems.”

With ATESTEO and straesser, two companies are bundling their competencies, which already occupy leading positions on their own and are also operating with high growth rates in their respective markets. Together the competencies, experiences, and services of both companies will be leveraged to achieve precise, reliable, and independent measurement and test results for customers from the automotive industry — in the laboratory and on the road. straesser will continue to operate in the market under its own name, but from now on within the ATESTEO Group. Rolf Strässer, who has led the company successfully for 15 years, will continue as Managing Partner of straesser.

About ATESTEO

ATESTEO GmbH, headquartered in Alsdorf, is the worldwide leading independent service provider for drivetrain testing with its 460 employees and over 130 drivetrain testing test benches in Germany and China. Its customers include virtually all automotive and transmission manufacturers. The company offers quality assurance through efficient endurance tests and functional tests of manual and automatic transmissions, differentials, and hybrid powertrains.

About straesser

straesser group consists of straesser automotive testing GmbH, straesser fahrversuche GmbH [straesser test drive LLC] and straesser beratung und dienstleistung GmbH [straesser consultation and services LLC]. Headquartered in Kernen, near Stuttgart, the company employs more than 280 people, most of them work in the test drive and the vehicle endurance sectors. Its customer base comprises a wide range of well-known automotive manufacturers, automotive suppliers as well as development and engineering service providers. straesser offers test drive and vehicle endurance as comprehensive vehicle and speciality tests, e.g. for assistance systems and autonomous driving. Testing is carried out on proving and testing grounds as well as on public roads around the world.