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In 1966 the snow chain production division
of the company Trafilerie Boghi in Lecco, Italy,
branched off, and the company König, with its
head office in Valmadrera, was born.
In 1977 König moved to its present head office
in Molteno.
The revolutionary 12 mm
“NO PROBLEM” snow chain was born in 1988,
with its simplified mounting system.
In 1989 this snow chain won the Silver Trophy
at the International Technical Creations
Awards. In 1994 König, one of the leading
companies in Europe, was awarded the ISO
9002 quality certificate which was followed
in 1999 by the ISO 9001 certificate.
In 1998,
the first 9 mm snow chain was presented with
the “COMFORT” brand name. The following
year the new “MAGIC” snow chain, with a
self-tensioning system, was presented.
The “MAGIC” snow chain was awarded the
Panel of Judges’ Prize at the International
Technical Creations Awards.
In 1998 the
majority of König’s shares passed over to
“Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Private Equity”.
From the year 2000 onwards, König began to
open up new and important markets such as
those in North America and Eastern Europe.
In 2001 the new “SUPERMAGIC” system,
which allows the snow chain’s automatic
release from the vehicle, was presented and,
in 2003, the same system was applied to the
new “TRUCK-RECORD” lorry snow chain.
Once again in the year 2001, the policy of
diversification into the fields of industrial and
anti-theft chains was decided upon and
actuated. 
In March of 2004, Deutsche Morgan
Grenfell yielded its parcel of majority shares
in König to the world leader in the field of load
carriers: the Swedish company THULE.
The
acquisition of König by the company THULE
consolidated the growth policies of the company
from Lecco, creating a new worldwide
player in the field of car accessories.
The König and THULE brand names
do, in fact, belong to that category of brand
names which are renowned and esteemed
across the world for their quality, reliability
and unique design.
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