Essen, 24 April 2023. Hella Pagid, leading brake system specialist for the independent automotive aftermarket and joint venture between automotive suppliers TMD Friction and HELLA, is celebrating its tenth anniversary. On 23 April 2013, Hella Pagid GmbH was founded as an equal joint venture between TMD Friction and HELLA at the former headquarters of the PAGID brand, which is still the leading brand in original equipment.
With the addition of brake products, one of the top-selling product groups in wholesale, HELLA has been able to increase its extensive range, particularly in the area of wear parts. At the same time, the cooperation with HELLA offered TMD Friction the opportunity to distribute its high-quality products to more than 80 countries worldwide via the globally positioned HELLA aftermarket network with more than 20 sales companies.
When the joint venture was founded, the initial focus was on dry brakes, including brake pads from TMD Friction manufactured with OE expertise. As a result, Hella Pagid has developed into one of the few full-range suppliers in the global independent automotive parts market. In the following years, the product range was continuously expanded, so that today the company can boast a coverage of almost 100 percent for brake pads and brake discs, as well as a continuously increasing market coverage of more than 85 percent in the hydraulics sector.
As early as 2018, Hella Pagid began to include a significant number of core-free new calipers in addition to its extensive deposit-based brake caliper range. The number of applications in this product line was recently doubled.
Hella Pagid is very well positioned for the future, also with regard to market trends such as e-mobility. "For example, we already meet increasing legal requirements for emission reduction [(e.g. EURO 7 and Better Brake Rules (USA) - from 2025)]. We benefit from TMD Friction's world-leading research and development and the associated direct transfer of know-how to our articles," says Lars Brylka, Managing Director at Hella Pagid.
This know-how transfer means that Hella Pagid has already been fulfilling the specifications that will apply in the USA from 2025 with regard to the copper content in brake pads (<0.5%) for years and is therefore ahead of the market. Additionally this transfer of know-how also helps Hella Pagid to offer the right brake pads for more than 90 percent of all electric and hybrid models and the right brake discs for more than 85 percent.
Today, Hella Pagid is a full-range supplier offering more than 14,000 spare parts for brake systems in OEM quality for all vehicle models. The range of brake pads and brake discs alone amounts to around 4,700 items (approx. 2,100 brake pads & more than 2,600 brake discs).