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THINKING ‘WAY AHEAD’ SINCE 1954 Bilstein says it offers exactly what customers in Australia want: a product range extending from OE and aftermarket products to street and off-road performance suspensions When August Bilstein laid the foundations for the innovation incubator Bilstein in Altenvoerde in Germany in 1873, nobody had any idea of the crucial influence the company’s products would one day have on the driving comfort and safety of cars. Bilstein says this did not become apparent until 1954, when its engineers in Ennepetal used the discovery of the Frenchman Bourcier de Carbon to bring the first mono-tube gas-pressure shock absorbers to market. Three years later, for the first time, a MercedesBenz production vehicle was equipped with this innovation, which became standard in modern cars. Monotube gas pressure shock absorbers developed and tested by Bilstein have since found their way into virtually all leading car marques, such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Bugatti, Ford, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lotus, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Porsche, Subaru, and Volkswagen.
A new identity In 2022, Bilstein adopted a new brand identity out of this self-confidence. With new logos, a new claim, a new typeface and revised design guidelines, the shock absorber experts say they are focusing on the future of suspension technologies, the customer experience, and the brand itself. Under the new claim ‘Way Ahead,’ Bilstein summarises its aspiration to offer all customers
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and partners a head start, whether in terms of development, market coverage, or the use of suspension technologies. At the same time, ‘Way Ahead’ serves as a product promise for leading technologies, comfort, safety, and performance. Bilstein says this is backed up by impressive facts, noting that today Bilstein is also the leading option for electric cars, such as the iconic Tesla brand which is successful worldwide.
International thinking with a local focus Bilstein states that it thinks internationally, but also knows that the demands of customers differ from country to country. In Australia, Bilstein has acquired extensive market knowledge over many decades and also with the support of the Bilstein Service Center, Sydney Shocks, which carries a wide range of “Bilsteins” suitable for all popular vehicles. Bilstein reports that this includes a rich shock absorber and suspension range for cars typical of the Australian market, such as the Holden Commodore or the locally developed and built Ford Falcon. It states this also resulted in a corresponding tuning programme and numerous options in the areas of street and off-road performance. Moreover, with the series replacement shock absorber B4, a wide range of popular European and Asian vehicles is covered as well.
Meeting conflicting demands with confidence Today one of the most advanced Bilstein suspension systems is installed in the current Mercedes S-Class ex works. Bilstein says this system shows what is technically possible today, because at last a longstanding conflict of goals has been convincingly resolved. The demands of customers are particularly high when it comes to luxury vehicles: a premium segment saloon should be especially comfortable, yet still as dynamic as a sports car if required, and also extremely safe. Bilstein says it makes this possible with stateof-the-art suspension technologies, setting new benchmarks in this segment at the same time. The innovative Bilstein DampTronic Sky is its adaptive shock absorber system with two-valve technology for the independent adjustment of the damping forces in the rebound and compression stage, while playing a major role in driving dynamics, comfort, and safety. This modern “Airmatic” air suspension combines air bags and adaptive shock absorbers, which reportedly respond particularly sensitively. The damper recognition is controlled individually at each wheel fully automatically – with separate rebound and compression damping. “In this way, we achieve a very high spread, a particularly wide range of driving modes from especially comfortable to dynamic,” Bilstein Head of Product Development, Andreas Mai, said. However, a wide damping force spread is not only an interesting solution in the luxury class, but also for sports cars. The Maserati MC20 and the Porsche 911 (992) were the first to be equipped with the new DampTronic X shock absorbers from Bilstein. Bilstein reports that the high adjustment dynamics allow the required damping forces to be adapted to the demand determined by the central control unit in just a few milliseconds.
