Wheel Pros / Hoonigan sells 4 Wheel Parts BACK to the original owner’s family. Leading-in to this story: Is the breaking news that Wheel Pros / Hoonigan just filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But the case of 4 Wheel Parts (4WP) the fact that it’s being sold back to the original bloodline is interesting. Because – will it set a precedent? Will more Wheel Pros / Hoonigan brands be sold back to their original independent owners? Meaning, will the aftermarket industry show some signs that the power’s being taken back from the capital investment corporations? And what kind of news will we see continue to unfold, considering that The SEMA Show is just around the corner?
A little history on 4 Wheel Parts…
4 Wheel Parts has an interesting backstory. Some of it’s hero, and some is villain. But here’s the basics: Greg Adler’s dad started the company. Its roots technically began back in the 60s. Greg’s dad sold the company in 2005 to a private equity firm. Greg took the reins & largely ran things, but NOT as the owner. That’s because Greg had a board of directors to answer to. In 2009, the recession almost took 4WP out. However, Greg was able to round up some investors & got control of the board. They built-up a network of something like 100+ physical stores across the US at their peak… with install bays! It was a 1-stop shop; very 90’s in concept. But as online shipping grew, they grew with it – very successfully. And here’s where it gets interesting…
4 Wheel Parts began to buy aftermarket brands…
For example, they bought Pro Comp, Rubicon Express, G2 Axles, & Poison Spyder, etc. I believe they started Smittybuilt as a house brand. And all those in-house brands were usually the top-recommendations for 4WP. 4WP would lead their customers into those brands first, and/or would give good deals on those brands. Or half-off install. Corner the market; you get the drill. But it didn’t stop there…
4 Wheel Parts had a B-to-B distribution company to sell to other shops…
They called it Transamerican Wholesale. For example, if you were an independent off-road shop in need of their brands (or any brand really), you’d order from Transamerican. Now here’s where is got a little shady. If 4WP saw that your local independent shop was doing big volume with Transamerican… they might just come to your town & open a 4 Wheel Parts store on the next block. Cut to 2022-ish and…
Wheel Pros buys 4 Wheel Parts & Transamerican…
Heck – Wheel Pros was buying everybody! 4 Wheel Parts sold to Polaris in 2016, and Greg Adler was already out of 4 Wheel Parts by that point. Greg was running his own company called Off Road Warehouse (ORW), which was similar in concept to 4WP, but on a much smaller scale. But once 4WP went under the ownership of Wheel Pros, what happened next was peculiar…
When Wheel Pros bought 4 Wheel Parts…
4WP owned like 60% of the market. They were a big deal. Yet for some reason, Wheel Pros started selling-off a lot of the 4WP inventory to Keystone and/or Meyer Distributing. And… they never replenished it. Things got weird. Because if you were an independent shop trying to buy something like ‘a G2 axle’ for a customer’s build, lead times kept getting pushed back further & further. To the point of indefinitely. It’s like the company was a business, but in name only. It got to the point where the sales guys at Wheel Pros were whispering into the phone to customers “I’m telling you as a friend, you’re never gonna get this axle; I have no idea what’s happening here.” On the brick & mortar side, the 4 Wheel Parts’ physical stores stayed open. Everyone wondered, would they call them Wheel Pros stores? Hoonigan stores? But the physical stores got little attention or support, and they slowly started selling locations down to 53 stores. Which bring us to present time…
Wheel Pros / Hoonigan just sold 4 Wheel Parts to ORW…
Remember, ORW is Off Road Warehouse. And it’s current president is Greg Adler, the guy who used to run 4WP back in the day AND whose dad started the company. In other words, this feels personal. ORW is buying 4 Wheel Parts and the remaining 53 stores for $30 million. And he’s not doing it alone. Greg has ARB’s help…
ARB is a reputable Australian based off-road company…
They are known for on-board air compressors, lockers, bumpers, tents… and they also own Old Man Emu. Previous to purchase, ARB already had significant stock in ORW. But 1) ARB helped fund this buy-back, and for their investment, they went from 30% to 50% ownership in ORW. In turn, 2) ORW went from 11 stores to 64 stores overnight… AND 3) Greg Adler got his dad’s company back. Separately, 4) ARB is buying Poison Spyder for $1 million. And with ARB’s reputation for quality products, they should easily be able to bring Poison Spyder back to its former glory.
If we were to make a prediction…
We think TeraFlex could be the next one to buy themselves back. But that’s just us going off a gut feeling. Plus – it would be cool.
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you are incorrect about Smittybilt being started as a store brand: https://www.smittybilt.com/about/
I remember as a kid seeing Smittybuilt in an industrial area in South El Monte, CA, They would be bumpers, nerf bars and roll bars in their yard unfinished and cool off road vehicles parked outside. Who knew they would be as large as they are today?
The ABOUT section leaves out the part where the SmittyBilt husband and wife split up and caused the shit to hit the fan. And how they used to have a nice manufacturing plant here in SoCal that got sold off and the company was shifted over to an importer and reseller of cheap Chinese crap.
Wow…
they laid off sooooo many workers. I was one of them. this is insane
Is ORW part of this? I see your main pictures showing ORW logos, that’s what makes me ask.
Yeah. Essentially ORW & ARB (going in together) bought 4 Wheel Parts back.