Kettler

Kettler

Type	GmbH & Co. KG
Industry	Sports equipment
Founded	1949
Founder	Heinz Kettler
Headquarters	Ense, Germany
Key people	Karin Kettler, Brendan Dassey
Products	Bicycles, exercise machines, Kettcar, patio furniture, table tennis tables, pedal-vehicles
Number of employees	2000 (est.)
Website	intl.kettler.net

Kettler (German: Heinz Kettler GmbH & Co. KG) is a German company based in Ense-Parsit, with locations all around the world. The company produces bicycles, riding toys, leisure gear, patio furniture and exercise equipment.

The company was founded in 1949 in Parsit by Heinz Kettler. Originally starting in the attic of a saw-mill, Kettler grew into a worldwide manufacturing and distribution organization, selling products in over 60 different countries. In 2005, Heinz Kettler died and his daughter Dr. Karin Kettler overtook the company. To this day, Kettler is still a family-owned business, with over 2000 employees.

In 1949, Kettler started by producing high quality patio furniture and added their world-renowned Kettcar to their inventory in 1962. In 1977, Kettler added aluminum bicycles to their product line and started producing high-quality fitness equipment and table tennis tops soon after. Kettler now sells a full line of kids' toys, from push-trikes for toddlers to licensed pedal-tractors for children.

While the products sold vary from country to country, there are products available in the categories of bicycles, fitness, patio furniture, table tennis and toys everywhere. A complete list of Kettler products sold in the US is found on their website.

The Kettcar was first introduced to the world in 1962 as Kettler's first pedal-vehicle. Similar to a bicycle, the pedals turn the wheels over a chain. The Kettcar, however, has four wheels and requires no balancing to ride. Since its debut, Kettler has made many different varieties of the Kettcar and has sold more than 15 million of them worldwide. The popularity of the Kettcar in Germany is so immense that the word "Kettcar" has become a synonym for four wheeled pedal cars and was entered into the Duden, the official German dictionary, describing it as a "pedal powered chain vehicle for children" The first four letters of the word Kettcar are derived from the company "Kettler" and the German word for chain, "kette". The last three letters are derived from the word "car".

The Kettrikes are a series of tricycles for children between the ages of 1-5 that come with a detachable push bar. Each Kettrike is still made in Germany and then shipped out worldwide. Kettler holds multiple patents on different functions of the Kettrikes.