Gearing Automotive

Gearing Automotive

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Automotive
Founded	6 March 1963 (1963-03-06)
Founder	Aiden P. Gearing Louis P. Gearing
Headquarters	Gearing Research Center, Tyrell, Fael , Halland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Rebecca Colin (Chief Executive Officer) Derek Ainsworth (Chief Technical Officer)
Products	Sports cars
Production output	6,290 units (2018)
Parent	Astoria Motor Group
Divisions	Gearing Motorsports Gearing Cars

Gearing Automotive is a Hallandic automotive manufacturer based in Tyrell, Fael. The primary products of the company since its foundation are high performance supercars. The company was acquired in 2006 by AMG, of which it is now a subsidiary.

History

Aiden and the GP 66 Formula Prime car in Montecara

Gearing was founded in 1965 by brothers Louis and Aiden Gearing, born in 1932 and 1944. Aiden P. Gearing ascended to fame as Halland's most proeminent pilot in the late 1950s, whereas Louis worked as mechanical engineer for Fael Motorworks. Louis eventually created his own workshop, Gearing automotive, focused on high-performance vehicle design. Aiden's mentor, Tintreach McCuinn, head of the Hallandic Automomotive Sports Association and former chief of Aiden's team in the HASA Mono series, was pivotal in bringing the two brothers together to compete in the championship. Starting in 1965, the new team would win the two following championships, before joining the just founded Formula Prime series. The team got third place in the first year with the , establishing itself as a reputable company for sports cars. The team won 10 constructor championships and 12 pilot championships, with Aiden himself winning three championships. Aiden died in 1971 during a race for Formula Prime in Montecara.

Despite Aiden's death, the company continued succesfully with Louis on the lead. With the marketing from Formula Prime and other racing series, Gearing began designing not only tailored vehicles for competitions, but also production series sports cars. By the time of his brother's death, Gearing Automotive was already famous worldwide for its vehicles. The Gearing GT1, designed initially for endurance racing, became Gearing's first succesful luxury supercar on the civilian market. 20 years later, the Gearing GT8 would become Gearing's staple vehicle, with excellent performance both in the racing competition world and the luxury high performance market.

The company was significantly impacted by the 2005 financial crisis, filing for bankruptcy the following year. Gearing dropped out of the 2005 championship mid season, before the company was acquired by Astoria Motor Group in 2006 and bailed. Under new administration, the company began recovery, only truly returning to its prior state in 2009. Its performance in Formula Prime was significantly affected, with the team deeply lagging behind in performance since new administration. After AMG nearly removing Gearing from Formula Prime, the company managed to acquire new sponsors in 2016, receiving additional funding. Together with an improved engine, the team began its recovery. In 2017 it got 4th place in the championship, after 10 years of low performance. The feat was once again repeated in 2018, and in 2019 the team achieved third place. Gearing's fiscal situation both on the car manufacturing and FP team has recovered, with a dramatic budget increase in 2019.

The company has also launched several new models since in its new administration, most notably the Gearing Aiden, Gearing 903 and Gearing 650. Since its acquisition by AMG, Gearing's production facilities have expanded worldwide, with parts built in Estmere, Senria, Valentir and Halland.

Products and strategy

Gearing Aiden, Halland Motorsport Show 2018

Gearing's product placement strategies is deeply tied to its presence in automotive competitions worldwide, notably the TBD Endurance Racing series, Gran Turismo and Formula Prime. Formula Prime serves as a proof for state of the art automotive technology development, where concepts are tested in a highly competitive environment. Prototypes of soon to be put in production high performance cars are also put in a highlight in the other two competitions, which are essential to Gearing's market strategy.

Gearing has two series of cars. The Super series are more standardized production line sport cars, labelled on basis of the vehicles' power output. The super series is representative of most of Gearing's sales, with the vehicles built on order with a list of highly customizable options on comfort and performance. Gearing's third series is the Prime series, featuring extreme customization and limited number of cars per model for exclusivity. These vehicles are auctioned before production, and custom modifications are defined with the owner based on the car model. Within the Prime Series, car models are named instead of numbered, such as the Gearing Aiden. Most vehicles from Gearing are adapted street-legal variants of competition designed cars.