We reported in early February that the founder of famous tuner Gemballa has gone missing in South Africa and now over three months later, Uwe Gemballa has yet to be found. His disappearance has now ultimately resulted in the worst, Gemballa, the tuning company is shutting down.
Gemballa is a world renowned tuner of supercars but went from earning €16.2m in 2007 to €8m in 2009. While this is understandable, given that the global economic recession has taken its toll on many industries, it appears that “dubious” transactions also put added strain on the company. By January 2010, fearing collapse was imminent, Uwe decided to seek out investors in Dubai and South Africa.
On February 8th, Uwe arrived in Johannesburg for a two-day business trip. On the evening of February 9th, Uwe called his son and told him he had an accident and desperately needed one million dollars. It was the last time he was heard from.
