Autobacs
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| Public KK | |
| Traded as | : |
| Founded | Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Japan (1947) |
| Founder | Toshio Sumino |
| Headquarters | Toyosu, Koto, Tokyo, Japan |
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Key people
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Setsuo Wakuda (Chairman and CEO) |
| Website | www |
Autobacs Seven Co., Ltd. (株式会社オートバックスセブン Kabushiki-gaisha Ōtobakkusu Sebun?) (: ) is a retailer of automotive parts and accessories based in Japan with branches primarily in Asia, with stores also located in France.
The company was founded by Toshio Sumino, in 1947 at Fukushima-ku, Osaka as Fuji Syokai Co., Ltd. A year later he opened a second branch in Osaka. In 1960 Sumino opened the first large scale automotive goods store, the Fuji Drive Shop and in 1969 he was involved in motorsport sponsorship by sponsoring a car in the Japanese Grand Prix. In 1974, he opened the first of the Autobacs stores: the "AUTOBACS Higashi Osaka Store" in Daitō, Osaka. In the following year, Autobacs would run its first franchise store "AUTOBACS Hakodate Nakamichi Store" in Hakodate, Hokkaidō. In 1977 Autobacs would start to develop and sell its own motor oil and tire to be sold in its own store, and at the end of the decade opened their 100th store, and in 1984 opened their 200th store.
On 11 July 2005, Autobacs entered into a Collaboration Agreement with the UK retailer Halfords, On 13 December 2005 Autobacs acquired 5% (11,400,000 shares) of the company at approximately ¥7.5 billion.
The specialty car manufacturer Tommykaira got into financial difficulties during the Asian recession in the late '90s. In 2001 it was bought out by Autobacs, which renamed the car manufacturing arm ASL (Autobacs Sports Car Laboratory), thus allowing the aftermarket parts manufacturer to continue trading with its usual name.
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Wikipedia