OZ Group is an Italian company founded in 1971 that produces car and motorcycle wheels, specifically
alloy wheel
In the automotive industry, alloy wheels are wheels that are made from an alloy of aluminium or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of a metal and other elements. They generally provide greater strength over pure metals, which are usually much softe ...
s. They are an
OEM supplier to a number of manufacturers in addition to
aftermarket sales and are a prominent wheel supplier in
motorsport
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of t ...
.
History
The enterprise was founded in a
filling station
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Ga ...
in
Rossano Veneto
Rossano Veneto is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, an ...
near
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 1971 by Silvano Oselladore and Pietro Zen from whose initials the company takes its name.
OZ S.p.A. was officially established as a company in 1978 following an investment by
Carto Isnardo SpA.
1989 saw the company's first affiliate set up as OZ Japan began business.
In 1992 the company moved to a new factory in its current headquarters location of
San Martino di Lupari
San Martino di Lupari is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about north of Padua.
San Martino di Lupari borders the following municipalities: Castelfranco Ve ...
.
In 1999 OZ branched out into motorcycle wheel production in collaboration with
Aprilia
Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles ...
.
Today the company produces alloy wheels for motorsports,
aftermarket and
OEM applications in addition to
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...
wheels and custom items for specialist
tuners and designers including
Bertone,
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930.
On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...
,
AMG and
Hartge.
OZ also produces wheels for
Sparco in partnership with their compatriots. Their main competitor is
BBS.
Motorsport
OZ began their long-standing involvement with
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
in 1984, supplying
Riccardo Patrese and
Eddie Cheever's
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...
team.
In 1990 the company were wheel suppliers to the
Toyota rally team as
Carlos Sainz won his first
World Rally Championship.
In 1996 the OZ supplied
Williams F1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head ...
team won the Formula One
constructor's championship and driver
Damon Hill
Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formula ...
won the drivers' championship.
The following year, an OZ supplied car won the
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
.
A second WRC championship victory this time with
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...
in 2000 preceded a slew of victorious partnerships in 2001 as OZ became a premier motorsports wheel provider.
While Peugeot again won the constructor's title in WRC, OZ also supplied the
Subaru World Rally Team as
Richard Burns won the driver's championship. The year also saw OZ supplied teams winning the Indy 500 and
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
.
As of 2011, OZ currently supplies the F1 teams
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...
and
Renault Sport
Renault Sport () or Renaultsport, was the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. It ...
, the
Ford World Rally Team and the
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
...
sports car racing and
DTM teams. They are exclusive suppliers to the
FIA Formula 2 Championship,
GP3 series and before its closure in 2010 the
A1 GP
A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...
series and supply 90% of
WRC teams and 80% of
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapoli ...
teams.
See also
*
List of companies of Italy
Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe with the third largest nominal GDP in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. As an advanced economy the country also has the sixth worldwide national wealth and it is ranked third f ...
References
External links
Company homepageGP3 official site car description
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oz Group
Formula One
Auto parts suppliers of Italy
Wheel manufacturers
Automotive motorsports and performance companies
Manufacturing companies established in 1971
Italian companies established in 1971
Italian brands
Companies based in Veneto