- So let's take it back we're
taking the days of underglow.
We're talking the days of extensive weird body kits
and no we're talking about last year.
Today we're going to be talking about
one of the original aftermarket wheels
in the domestic car game Konig, Kunig, Keurig,
coffee, I'm gonna go get some coffee.
(upbeat music)
So Konig is actually a German word for king,
which since we're on the subject of German words,
(speaking in German)
YouTube viewers.
- Whaaaat?
- Konig has been a part of the aftermarket
wheels team since like the dawn of time,
most notably in America and Europe.
And when they were founded in 1983,
they have rosen and fallen depending
on the trend in the last 30 or 40 years.
So what makes Konig so special
and why is it such a hot topic
when it comes to aftermarket wheels?
Well because almost every single person knows that Konig
is synonymous with the aftermarket car game.
And while Konig is a subsidiary of YHI International
since 2005 who's a manufacturing powerhouse,
Konig is operated relatively independently.
So what makes Konig such a hot brand?
Well because of the fact that everybody
just knows the brand especially here in the United States.
So where did Konig come from?
Great question.
1982 there's a corporation called Pan-Mar Corp
which actually specialized in
exporting and importing products into the United States.
Now back in the '80's the aftermarket
car scene was starting to rumble
and bustle about, most noticeably with muscle cars.
Now you have to remember back in the early '80's
there was the Tuner, the 260 and 280z's,
you had Camaros, you had the mullets,
you had all that sorta stuff that
was really coming up that was extremely popular
and there was a huge need for
aftermarket wheels in the United States.
So Konig and Pan-Mar was launched
and essentially it tried to fill the gap
in between super expensive wheels for imports
and super expensive wheels for domestic vehicles
and they created the Konig line
that was an affordable aftermarket wheel
and Konig did pretty decent.
They came out with a bunch of new designs,
a bunch of really eccentric stuff
that started to hit well with the lower
market for entry-level vehicles and they did okay.
All the way up until 2005, YHI International
bought them out or acquired them
and that's where Konig's quality
really went through the roof.
(crashing boxes)
- [Billy] Hey Ron.
- [Ron] Hey Billy.
- [Billy] Alright don't leave a mess.
- [Ron] I'm fine.
- While this is Konig's time in the spotlight
YHI International needs to have a mention here
because of an important part that they played
in Konig's overall manufacturing process.
YHI International plays a part in companies
like Yokohama when it comes to tires,
when it comes to Konig in terms of aftermarket wheels,
and on top of that they have a strangle hold
on the O.Z. market share as well.
30% of O.Z.'s shares are actually owned by YHI International
and on top of that you guessed it
YHI was the exclusive proprietary
dealer in the early 70's for Enkei.
So that makes the ties between
O.Z., Enkei their tuning line,
and Konig is a lot closer than what you would imagine.
And while YHI started in Singapore,
they have exploded across the international market.
They take into account companies like
Advanti Racing which they own.
Which I don't know if you hear about them
but they are one of the sole producers
for the Mercedes Benz Formula One
team racing between 2013 and 2015,
so the company is no slouch.
On top of that they produce and manage
and wholesale and do all the crazy
behind the scenes logistics stuff
for companies like Yokohama, for Nankang,
and other prominent tire companies.
So while Enkei and Konig may not share
exact factories, it wouldn't be too much
of a stretch to say they didn't at one time,
including if you go onto the Konig
website right now you can actually
see a lot of the technology that Konig
uses in their most recent lineup
is the same thing Enkei uses in their lineup.
So what does all that mean?
It means that they share more history
than a lot of people would like to believe.
And it's probably one of the biggest reasons
that Konig has become such a prominent
player as of recent in terms of low cost,
high quality aftermarket wheels in this decade.
So Konig wants to focus on tuner enthusiasts style
vehicles, but that's not all anymore, they wanna be big.
They have applications for aftermarket tuning,
racing, Formula One, they wanna do all that stuff,
most notably they wanna really jump
in to OEM application vehicles
for Konig, Kunish, Keurig, (beep).
So Konig has two main wheel lines,
they are actually called the main wheel line
and their Flow Form tech wheel lines.
And both of them are made in Thailand or Taiwan
depending on which one you get
but the main line wheels are decent.
They're not bad, but they're definitely
a little dated in their overall styling and cues,
and they're not a bad wheel.
They do try to make their own eccentric design,
different styles, thing like that
and they come in a plethora of different sizing.
But he one lineup that really matters,
the one lineup that I think Konig
is really jumping back into the game
is their Flow Forming wheels.
They're Flow Forming wheels are like where it's at.
The Rennform, Ampliform, Dekagram,
all those weird mathematical wheel names
are the reason Konig has gotten so popular as of late.
And on top of that you can get a set
of 18 by 10 1/2 for under $1000 for rotary forged wheels.
I mean it's absolutely insane that you
can get that at a price point like that.
So what is Flow Forming technology?
It's rotary forging, it's the same thing,
it's very similar, you take the barrel,
the barrels spun at a high heat,
you've got some fire and then they
move the rollers through here,
it aligns the grain structure so
the barrel of the wheel is forged
in essence and the face is still cast.
Now you know rotary forging, TSW coined
that phrase and you can't actually
use it from other companies so
all these other companies are coming up
with their own words for it like flow form,
like barrel form, like spin forge,
and all that sorta stuff, it's all the same stuff
but because TSW copyrighted the term people can't use it.
And on top of those look at those prices.
Mario, hit 'em up with that plug.
♪ Really I'm the plug, really I'm the plug ♪
- On top of that Konig uses the same
technology as Enkei which was MAT technology.
If you guys didn't hear we had a video
Enkei you can go watch that but it's
the same exact technology and processes
so you can be understood that
the quality of Konig especially as of recent has like
(imitates soaring)
like
(imitates soaring)
like
(imitates exploding)
and since Konig has made wheels
that are Flow Forming tech since 2010
you could vouch that they've always been doing
but they haven't exploded as of recent,
til about probably a year or two ago.
Especially when their marketing team
hit this new launch super, super hard,
and that's a good thing for Konig.
Konig is one of those brands that I feel
falls between the lines of Rota and Enkei
where they produce a decent quality wheel
with their ISO, with all of the specs
and magnification processes that they need
but they're not trying to be somebody they're not.
Konig just does a good job and they
use the tech that can, especially coming from Enkei
and Advanti Racing and the other brands
that YHI International hosts under
their umbrella because they can.
So why would they not use it?
And of course their designs are original-ish,
there are some that are obviously reps,
but a lot of Konig wheels have their own styling
or cues that I would say make them their own wheel.
Konig does a great job with all their wheels
especially their Flow Forming tech
because it allows people to jump in
a set of wheels that's not gonna cost an arm and a leg
and that I can most definitely respect.
So if you're looking to pick up a set of
Konig Flow Formed or anything like that,
guess who sells them?
We do, this is not sponsored though
but if you are interested in any Konig
Ampliform, Ultraform or any of their main
wheel lines, we actually have all of that
on our website fitmentindustries.com.
Just click Konig when you go to the wheels
and they'll all show up right there for you.
We also have other 3,000 wheels, tires,
and suspension plus Air Lift,
'cause I know you want Air Lift,
it's 2018 whose not running Air Lift anymore?
Besides me.
That is everything we have on Konig,
we hoped you guys enjoyed, let us know
if you have questions, comments or concerns
drp a comment below, let us know what
you would like to see next.
As always we read every single comment, because we want too.
So we hope you guys enjoyed,
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries
and we will see you later, peace.
P.S. stop making fun of my facial hair,
I think it looks pretty good.
This has taken like five weeks to make,
you would be shocked at how long
it takes me to grow facial hair.
So if you guys just mmmm,
we're gonna put a comment below
if you don't have any facial hair
join the dozens like me that don't
and we'll talk about it later, peace.
(upbeat music)