Koninklijke Gazelle fietsen - Dieren - the Netherlands - Iconic Factories on Waymarking.com

In 1892 civil servant Willem Kölling founded a bicycle factory by importing one bicycle from England.
The trade went well and a partner was added to the company, Rudolf Arentsen, dealer in stoves, fireplaces and iron.
In 1902 they bought a plot of land and built the first bicycle factory there.
This factory still exists and is still in use.
At that time, the Gazelle name was also introduced for their bicycles. That name has never changed to this day. The gazelle, a type of deer, is mentioned on everything. The front sprocket is decorated with gazelles for example.
In 1905 Arentsen withdrew and a brother of Kölling joined as a new partner.
The production capacity was increased through renovations and increasing numbers of bicycles could be produced.
Things went well until WW II because large numbers of bicycles were exported to the Dutch East Indies, a colony of the Netherlands.
The tandem was introduced in 1935, a great success. Less successful was the electric bicycle, the time was not ripe for it.
WW II also hit Gazelle hard, the Germans transferred the machines to Germany and at the end of the war the factory was partly destroyed with explosives.
It took until August 1946 for production to get going again. In 1950 the first bicycle with an auxiliary engine was made.
The millionth bicycle was made in 1954. Three-wheeled transport bicycles were also introduced, again a success. Experiments with city cars came to nothing. Financially things were not going well for Gazelle in the 1970s and in 1971 an investment company took over.
In 1987 the company was sold again and now to the American Derby cycles corporation.
In 1992 Gazelle was awarded the title royal.
In 2001 Derby had to sell Gazelle to Gilde Buyout Projects. Gazelle was profitable but Gazelle's profits were pumped into the ailing Derby.
In 2011, there was another owner, Pon Holding. They still own it today. Pon is best known in the Netherlands as an importer of Volkswagen and Caterpillar.
In 2012, the Dutch Princess Margriet helped in the production of the 14 millionth bicycle and the 100th anniversary was also celebrated.
The new factory, completely focused on transparency to the outside world, was opened in 2015 by King Willem-Alexander. At the moment most of the bikes being made are E-bikes.

Product manufactured here: conventional and electric bicycles Address: Wilhelminaweg 8 Dieren, Gelderland the Netherlands 6951 BP Web Page: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/29/2021 PetjeOp visited it 08/22/2021 eilers1 visited it

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