The Story of Wiesmann

Wiesmann is a company that is rather unknown, and while the cars are very recognizeable very few people ever heard of the company.
This post is meant to change that, if you may give me a few minutes.

The Wiesmann GmbH was founded by Friedhelm und Martin Wiesmann, the sons of the owner of a local car dealership in Dülmen, Germany.
At first they produced aftermarket removable hardtops for convertibles, with their dream being that to build their own sportscar, more specifically to connect a classic roadster and the famous German product quality.

The Wiesmann MF30 - The first Wiesmann

In 1993 the brother’s dream became reality, and they presented the Wiesmann MF30 to the world.
MF stands for Martin Friedhelm, the brothers’ names, while there’s no clear answer to what the “30” means.
The car’s chassis is made of a hot-dipped galvanized steel aluminum clad pipe frame, on top of which fiberglass-composite panels form the curvy (and thus very recognizable) body.
That gives the 3860mm long car a weight of as little as 1.080 kilograms.
The car was fitted with BMW’s M54 i6-engine, known from the BMW 530i E60 (2003–2005), among others.
It has a displacement of 2979ccm, putting out 170 kilowatts at 5900 rpm and 300 newton-meters (221 foot-pound) at 3400 rpm.
Wiesmann claimed a top speed of 230 kph and 5.9 seconds to reach 100 kph from a standstill, although they made it pretty clear that the car was meant as more of a cruiser than something to break records on the Autobahn.
While the engine was the only one available the customers had the choice of three gearboxes, all sourced (just like the engine) from BMW:
-5-speed manual
-6-speed manual
-6-speed sequential (SMG II)
While the choices regarding the drivetrain was very limited the interior was fully customizable (as was the exterior colour), except that the car could not be fitted with modern safety-features like an airbag-system.

The MF30 was eventually retired in favour of the MF3, which is visually identical with the exception of new wheels (introducing optional 20 inch wheels), but had an updated drivetrain.
The MF3 got BMW’s S54-engine, the 3.2 litre i6 known from the E46 M3.
The new engine raised the Wiesmann’s power to 252 kilowatts at 7900 rpm and 365 newton meters (269 foot-pound) at 4900 rpm.
That shortened the standard sprint to 4,9 seconds, while the top speed increased to 255 kph.
The new engine and a few reinforcements also increased the weight of the engine, with it now listing at least 1180kg.

The Wiesmann GT MF4 - The first Wiesmann Coupé

After not even offering a hard top for 12 years Wiesmann surprised the press and visitors at the 2003’ IAA in Frankfurt (Germany), presenting their first coupé in the form of the GT MF4.
While being based off the MF3 the chassis has been heavily reworked, besides being made of aluminum it now also gives the car a roof and accommodates a new, much larger engine.
The choice was once again a BMW-engine (BMW would provide engines until the end of the company over a decade later), specifically the S65, a naturally aspirated DOHC V8, having a displacement of 4,395 ccm in the used version, the same engine used in the 2010’ E92 M3 GTS coupé.
In the Wiesmann it puts out 300kw in between 5500 and 6400 rpm, and delivers a maximum torque of 600 newton meters (443 foot-pound) in between 1750 and 4500rpm.
Wiesmann no longer gave customers a choice of gearboxes, all MF4s being fitted with a 6-speed automatic gearbox.
Wiesmann made it quite clear that the car was intended as a comfortable GT for long-distance traveling.
The MF4 is said to reach 100 kph in just 4.6 seconds, before reaching a top speed of 290kph.
While the new chassis weights just 110kg the whole car still weighted at least 1390kg, making the increased performance even more impressive.

When Wiesmann unveiled the GT MF4-S in 2010 they also gave in to customers and offered a roadster-version.
The S-version looks identical to the MF4, save for a spoiler-lip at the front and an automatically extending spoiler at the rear.
The headlights have also been reworked, integrating the indicators into the normal lights and thus eliminating the middle one of the (now formally) three lights on each side.
With BMW unwilling to provide the S65 any longer the engine was changed to the N63, a 3999ccm bi-turbo V8 also used in the F01 7series.
In the Wiesmann the engine puts out 300 kilowatts at (still) 443 foot-pounds of torque, now alternatively flowing into the 6-speed automatic or a 7-speed double-clutch gearbox.
The standard-sprint is the same at 4.6 seconds, but while Wiesmann lists the top speed at 291 kph there are reports of cars actually reaching the magic 300 kph (about 180 miles per hour) mark.

The new base - The beginning of the end?

In 2007, with the MF4 being successful and Wiesmann doing well the company moved into a new, very representative base, still within the city of Dülmen (Germany).
The new building included the production lines (one for the MF4, one for the MF5), a big show-room, the offices and enough outdoor space for customers to arrive by helicopter.
It was overshadowed (literally) by a large wooden structure that, seen from the air, resembles a Gecko.
The Gecko was the company’s symbol since the cars were meant to stick to the road the way a Gecko can stick to walls/ceilings.
During the large opening-celebration it was announced that an official dealership was about to open in Munich, and that there were plans to start selling Wiesmann in the USA by 2011.

The Wiesmann MF5 - The first alternative Wiesmann

In 2007 Wiesmann listened to customers wanting a more sporty car, and unveiled the MF5.
The car was based off the MF4-S Coupé, but was slightly widened to accommodate wider tires.
The body now also featured a couple of cuts to allow better airflow, especially the better disposal of hot air from the brakes.
At first the car was equipped with the famous S85, the 5 litre V10 BMW developed with some help from Sauber for the E60 M5.
Going into the the Wiesmann without notable changes it gave the MF5 373kw at 7750 rpm and 520 newton meters (383 foot-pound) of torque at 6100 rpm.
That engine was linked to a 7-speed sequential gearbox, allowing the MF5 to reach 100 kph in just 3.9 seconds, with the top speed of 315 kph finally officially making a Wiesmann breach the “300 kph club”.
All that performance had its price, with the MF5’s prices starting at 189.500 euros, over 60.000€ above the starting-price of an MF4.
In 2009 the MF5 was followed by a roadster-version, which started with a limited edition featuring the S85-engine (which BMW had stopped producing).
55 of these Special Edition Roadsters were announced, but only 33 were built.
While one Roadster was shipped to the US for press (and shipped back afterwards) Wiesmann had to announce that they wouldn’t sell in the USA after all for financial reasons.
After the V10 was no longer available Wiesmann fitted the Roadster with the 4395ccm twin-turbo V8 (S63) known from the 2010’ BMW E71 X6 M, mounted to a 6-speed automatic gearbox.
The engine put out 408 kW at 6000rpm and 680 newton meters (500 foot-pound) of torque at 1500 to 5650 rpm.
The acceleration remained the same, while the listed top-speed dropped to 311 kph.

2012 - The year of changes.

In Spring 2012, just when the presentation of the Wiesmann Spyder announced the departure from the classic design, Friedhelm Wiesmann retreated from his post at the head of the company, moving to Munich and leading “Wiesmann Alps” from then on.
In July 2012 his brother Martin left the company all-together, handing over the reigns of the company ot Rolf Haferkamp.
Up to that point, the Wiesmann GMBH had produced about 1600 cars in 25 years.

The Spyder, a no-compromises two-seater powered by the S65 V8 known from the 2007’ BMW E90 M3 was unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, being claimed to mark a further “spreading” of the company’s offerings.
At the same time, it was said that Wiesmann was developing an airbag-system, and also wanted to include newer BMW engines so the risk of having to retire a model because BMW retires an engine would not be as big anymore.
There were also rumors of an official dealership in the UAE and a completely self-developed engine, but there’s no sufficient evidence for either claim.
A Wiesmann-prototype assumed to be the production version of the Spyder was seen around Germany for the rest of year, but eventually it was announced that the Spyder wouldn’t materialize.

2013 - It's over.

The end came on the 14th of August 2013, with the company filing for insolvency at the local court in Münster, the court responsible for the location of Wiesmann’s base.
Just a few weeks later, on the 28th of November 2013 the management applied for the insolvency-process being terminated, claiming there no longer was a reason for the insolvency.
They presented a plan to restructure the company, wanting to gain new funds by selling stocks.
The creditors rejected the plan on the 10th of January of 2014, which (probably coincidentally) is when the last Wiesmann was finished.
Another creditors-meeting took place just 10 days later, ending after 4 hours with the decision to liquidate the company.
A few items were auctioned off in the following weeks, before an auction took place on the 5th of May 2014 at the company’s base in Dülmen, selling most of the remaining possessions of the no longer existing company.

At the same time Martin Wiesmann returned from retirement, teaming up with former Wiesmann employees in 2013 and founding the Drehzahl & Momente-Sportwagen GmbH (revolutions & moments sportscars GmbH, roughly translated) in Münster to provide the regular service as well as repairs for Wiesmann-owners.

The original company was no more on the 2nd of December 2015, when the London-based investors Roheen and Sahir Berry won the auction for (basically) the name of the company for 5.7 million €.
The investors announced to keep the base in Dülmen, wanting to built sportscars under the name “Wiesmann Automotive GmbH”, right after investing a two-digit-million sum of euros into the location and development.
The new company was registered in February 2016, but so far no car (or even detailed plan) has been presented.

So, what was it that killed the company?
Short answer: No one knows.
Longer answer: There are several possible reasons.
Wiesmann cars got exponentially more expensive with every new model/version, while there was still very little done to make the company known globally.
And the German market for 100.000+ cars is very small.
At the same time the company was in debt from building the new base.
Added to that comes the cost of developing their own airbag-system and having to change their existing cars to accept new engines.
Also, while the classic design of the cars (which remained largely unaltered since the start of the company) may have been polarizing, the radical Spyder was probably alienating potential customers as well.
In general, it’s assumed that Wiesmann took a high risk by investing a lot, and then things “simply” didn’t work out.
And then there’s the argument of some people, that the brothers “handing off” the company was a bad move, that they should’ve stayed with their company since they knew it best.
I’m not going to claim to know the precise reason, there’s just to much “this, or that, or that” regarding the blaming of a certain reason.

By the way, you can still buy a factory-new Wiesmann.
When the company went bankrupt a Volvo-dealership in Meckenbeuren, Germany bought about a dozen Wiesmanns.
That makes them a still working contract-dealership of a company that ceased to exist over a year ago.
On the pre-owned market prices are increasing surprisingly slowly for how rare the cars are, with a MF5 going for no more than 260.000€

Thanks for reading!

#blogpost