KONI Shock Absorbers, a global leader in suspension damping technology, and Runge Cars, a builder of handcrafted, bespoke automobiles, announced a new partnership today. KONI shocks will become a functional part of the rolling and running art work hand built in Chris Runge’s Minnesota shop.
Whether through traditional manual adjustments or patented technology, KONI already adapts to ride conditions and driving styles. Now, KONI shocks will serve both form and function on Runge’s hand-built, drivable pieces of art.
KONI’s grassroots partnerships form the anchor of the company’s philosophy, challenging engineers to fit products to the customer’s needs – not mass produce a one-sized fits all solution. Runge Cars joins KONI’s work with other organizations, including the long-standing affiliation with the Sports Car Club of America and its members. Through its work with SCCA, KONI has supported regional and national autocross and road racing programs, and was involved at the launch of Track Night in America, for years. Each grassroots program or partnership effort aims to solve a different, often unique problem and many times directly translates to improvement in KONI’s product technology and range.
This particular collaboration came from a need for both form and function, as Runge Cars – which take styling cues from post-war German automobiles – are meant to be both shown and driven.
“We have the technology and the ability to adapt to customer’s needs and build relationships, and that’s what this is about,” Allen Briere, Automotive and Heavy Duty Sales at KONI, said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a mass-produced car or something built from the ground up, like Runge Cars, the KONI shocks can adapt and work.”
Runge Cars has also benefited from KONI’s established customer service qualities and engineering help to dial in the ride as well as fitment on these one-of-a-kind builds.
“KONI is full of people who are passionate about cars,” Chris Runge said. “They do what they say they’re going to do, and it’s hard to have a big corporation that does that. They’ve maintained their personal touch. That really spoke to me and gave me some confidence.”
About KONI
As a part of ITT’s Motion Technologies, and as they've been doing for over 80 years, KONI develops, manufactures, and markets high performance shock absorbers for many types of private and commercial vehicles, including street and racing cars, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles, and military vehicles as well as high speed trains. ITT Motion Technologies is a world leader in the development and production of components for the automobile and railway industry.
Runge Cars
RÜNGE Cars specializes in producing handcrafted, bespoke automobiles and furniture. Each commission is designed to customer specifications. Executing traditional coachbuilding techniques, bodywork is hand formed of aluminum over body bucks and finally fitted to the "Superleicht" aluminum tube form.
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