In our last feature on Maxion Wheels in Turkey, I made only brief mention of a very recent and significant development at the Manisa site: the construction of a new plant for forged aluminium wheels, designed not for light vehicles but for heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles. The decision to enter the CV aluminium wheel market was announced by Maxion Wheels at the last IAA Transportation in 2022; the news is important enough that it deserves an article to itself, and so I interviewed Matt Brest ahead of IAA Transportation 2024, where Maxion Wheels will show its forged aluminium wheels to the public for the first time.

At this year’s Busworld Turkey, held between 29-31 May at the Istanbul Expo Center, I met with Şikar and Ünlü to discuss the past, present, and future of Maxion Wheels’ business activities in the country. While much of our conversation revolved naturally around the bus and coach industry, I learned a lot about wheel production for all segments, including light vehicles and trucks. Moreover, we talked in depth about what has made Turkey such an attractive location for industry, and why it will continue to be a good place to do business despite the ongoing currency crisis.

A truck wheel is easily taken for granted. In fact, its plain appearance and simple construction are the products of no less care and ingenuity than most any other part essential to the making of a truck. For Karl Rode, who is Director of Engineering for passenger car and commercial vehicle steel wheels at Maxion Wheels, the ingenuity emerges from the fine balance maintained between weight and strength.

In the opening pages of its very first sustainability report, published in 2019, Iochpe-Maxion proclaimed its interest in “establishing a position of transparency for the market and society”. The Brazilian company – originally a logging firm and now one of the largest manufacturers of wheels and structural components for automotives and commercial vehicles – had pursued certain sustainability objectives prior to 2019, but these had been managed individually by its numerous subsidiaries.

Mark Gerardts, Giorgio Mariani, and Nuket Ozgur have been promoted to Business Unit President EMEA, CCO, and CFO respectively.

Maxion Wheels will continue supplying lightweight steel truck wheels to the American semi-trailer manufacturer and truck bodybuilder.

The German manufacturer launched new lightweight steel wheels, announced a series of forged aluminium wheels, and outlined plans for expanding production capacity at its joint-venture site in Manisa, Turkey.

Maxion Wheels has joined the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) and ResponsibleSteel, not-for-profit organisations which aim to establish global standards and certification for the sustainable sourcing and production of aluminium and steel respectively.

The company is recruiting more than 60 new employees at the plant, following recent growth in its wheels business.

Iochpe-Maxion S.A., based in São Paulo, has announced it is to invest BRA100 million (USD20 million) in its Cruzeiro manufacturing facility in Brazil. As a result of the investment, the company will increase its annual production capacity by 400,000 truck wheels and 110,000 agricultural wheels.

The parent of brands such as Maxion Wheels and Maxion Structural Components has announced a set of sustainability commitments under its ‘ROADMAP ZERO’ strategy, which aims to make the components supplier into a carbon neutral business by 2040.

The simulation will create a "digital twin" or virtual counterpart which will work in parallel with the actual manufacturing process, allowing the company to identify and resolve potential problems in the real production line.

Maxion Jantas has completed construction of the buildings and infrastructure of a new 21,000 sq m commercial vehicle steel wheel manufacturing plant in Manisa, Turkey.

Maxion Wheels will work together with early-stage investor Plug and Play Tech Center and its programme, Startup Autobahn, which is designed to guide and support start-up tech companies.