Not because of retirement age: At the age of 67, Friedhelm Wiesmann started again in the car business. In the Bavarian town of Welden near Augsburg, he founded Boldmen Automobile GmbH last year together with Harald Käs and his son Michael. The first Boldmen CR4, a classic roadster, is due to roll out of the production hall this summer.
The brand name is made up of the English words bold and men, which means “bold men”. And the idea of the company’s founders is always bold. After all, the entire automotive industry is currently fixated on electromobility. Boldmen, however, continues to rely on the classic combustion engine. A three-liter six-cylinder with 408 hp and a torque of 610 Newton meters is used in the two-seater with a soft top. Like the engine, the eight-speed automatic comes from BMW. The body is basically made of carbon. According to Wiesmann, this is what the C in the designation CR4 stands for. The R stands for Roadster and the 4 for the 400 hp class.
With a length of 4.42 meters, a width of 1.93 meters and a height of 1.28 meters (one track larger, but flatter than a BMW Z4), the almost 1.5-ton CR4 will be – like all future models der Manufaktur – be a handcrafted one-off piece according to the individual wishes of the customer. The car should manage the sprint from zero to 100 km / h in 3.9 seconds, at 250 km / h it is regulated.
A third has already been sold
Even before production actually started, the brand had already had its first sales successes. Although there were no photos or other illustrative material of the vehicles, eleven customers ordered a CR4. Friedhelm Wiesmann, responsible for marketing and sales for the young company, emphasizes the importance of the exclusive special edition “First Thirty 01/30 to 30/30”, which should “always remind of the beginning of a new automotive success story”. The prices for the CR4 in Germany start at just under 185,000 euros.
In addition to the headquarters in Welden near Augsburg, there are three Boldmen dealers in Bochum, Hamburg and Leipzig at the start of sales. Talks with other interested parties are ongoing. 20 cars are to be manufactured this year, and production is expected to increase to 80 units in 2022. A maximum capacity of around 120 cars is feasible. The number of employees will then grow from the current eight to 30, half of them in production.
Wiesmann was “driven to the wall”
The new model builds on a proud history, as Martin and Friedhelm Wiesmann wrote automotive history for over a quarter of a century. In 1988 they founded their own company in Dülmen. With coupés and roadsters, the brothers managed to make a name for themselves far beyond the borders of Europe. But in 2014, when Friedhelm Wiesmann had already left the company for personal reasons in 2011, the company went bankrupt. “It was hit the wall,” says Wiesmann. A little later it was sold including the trademark rights. Now Wiesmann, who had meanwhile founded a consulting company, wants to build on old successes with his father and son Käs.
As managing partner of Boldmen GmbH, he wants to contribute both his positive and negative experiences from the Wiesmann time. “Together with a team of highly motivated, first-class specialists, we will accept the new challenge.”
Experience runs in the family
Harald Käs, born in 1964, runs a company in the IT and communications sector that he founded and built up himself with great success. Son Michael (32) already passed his motor vehicle master’s examination at the age of 19, then worked at Ruf Automobile in body construction and at Alpina in engine development and in the racing team. Harald Käs is convinced of the success of the project: “We ensure that sports car enthusiasts are supplied with vehicles of the highest quality.”
Two statements that Friedhelm Wiesmann saw confirmed on practical objects at the first meeting with father and son Käs. “Harald and Michael Käs have proven their competence in automobile construction and the processing of carbon in the Everytimer 02 pilot project based on the BMW 02 Cabriolet,” emphasizes Wiesmann. For him, the quality of this work was the decisive point in tackling the new company.
And Wiesmann says: “The high costs of the development and the production process with small quantities at the same time naturally lead to a higher price than in mass production. The equivalent, however, is an extremely exclusive sports car that guarantees high value retention due to the very limited supply on the market. That puts the purchase price into perspective. “
ampnet