Solomon Alsberg Selects Alcoa For Expanding Russian Forged Alloy Wheel Market

BANBURY, United Kingdom – December 10, 2008: Leading maker of forged aluminium wheels, Alcoa, is now supplying lightweight forgings for Solomon Alsberg’s range of exclusive quality alloy wheels. Specialising in the niche vehicle tuning and customisation markets, Russia based Solomon Alsberg demanded high quality metallurgy, strength, style and lightness for its expanding customer base.

“Solomon Alsberg discovered that Alcoa offers the ideal mix of lightweight product with pricing, quality and flexibility,” explains Razinkin Alexander, marketing director of Solomon Alsberg Ltd. “Alcoa is one of the only suppliers offering forged blanks up to a size of 19in. When machined to their final style, the lightweight wheels weigh just 8.2 kg.”

The premium niche vehicle market that Solomon Alsberg serves prefers forged alloy wheels as they reduce unsprung weight on a car, providing more responsive steering and suspension input, increased strength while reducing weight of a comparable cast aluminium wheel by over 20 percent.

“We are delighted to be working with Solomon Alsberg, helping the company achieve significant growth and consumer satisfaction not only in Russia but also across Europe,” explains David Yates, marketing manager for Alcoa Auto Wheels Europe. “Solomon Alsberg requires large size, high quality forged blanks from which they can style a range of wheels offering manufacturing flexibility to respond quickly to a competitive market. Our blanks allow them to create many designs from a single pattern forging.”

Adds Alexander: “Our technologists are highly experienced in the aerospace and automotive industries and their demanding requests for a superior level of metallurgical and mechanical integrity have been met. Unlike other companies, Alcoa’s range of tooling is vast and their quality system ensures smooth progress in meeting our clients’ customisation needs.”

Success with premium suppliers like Solomon Alsberg follows on from Alcoa’s Sixtieth Anniversary of developing, producing and supplying alloy wheels to the global automotive industry.