Roland Gumpert (born 10 December 1944) is a German engineer and founder of the

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

manufacturer

Apollo Automobil Apollo Automobil (previously known as Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur) is a German sports car manufacturer headquartered in Denkendorf, Bavaria, Denkendorf. Roland Gumpert, who founded Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur in 2004, once held the position of ...

. Gumpert is currently the managing director of the sports car manufacturer Gumpert Aiways Automobile, which he also founded.

Biography

Engineer at Audi

Gumpert studied mechanical engineering at the

Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology (, short TU Graz) is a public research university located in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology research and educational institute in Austria. ...

. After graduating as a graduate engineer, he worked from 1969 as a test engineer for vehicle development at

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

AG in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...

. From 1972 he then worked as a test manager and type supervisor for the

Audi 50 The Audi 50 (known internally as ''Typ 86'') is a small supermini car produced by German automaker Audi from 1974 to 1978, and sold only in Europe. Introduced two and three years after the French Renault 5 and the Italian Fiat 127 respectively, ...

. In 1974, Gumpert became head of the pre-development and testing department. Between 1975 and 1977, he developed a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

for Audi, the Z02, which was rejected by the responsible

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

manager. The selectable

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

of the

Volkswagen Iltis The Volkswagen Type 183, more commonly known as the Iltis (German language, German for European polecat, polecat), is a military vehicle built by Volkswagen for use by the German military. The Iltis was formerly built under licence in Canada by ...

was also one of his projects at this time. In 1977, Gumpert moved to the chassis and assembly testing department. Finally, in 1981 Gumpert became Head of Sport and Special Development at

Audi Sport {{Commons category, World Rally Championship teams Teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of ...

. Under his leadership as race director, Audi won 25 rounds of the world rally championship and 4 rally world championship titles. In 1986, Gumpert was head of technical development overseas and in 1992, he was responsible for sales and marketing for the Asia-Pacific region. In 1999, Gumpert was appointed to the sales and marketing board member "VW-Audi Joint Venture China".

Managing director of Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur

Together with Roland Mayer, the owner of

Motoren Technik Mayer MTM – Motoren Technik Mayer GmbH is a German car tuner and small manufacturer based in Wettstetten. Company Roland Mayer was an Audi engineer involved in the development of the five-cylinder turbo engine of the quattro sport race car of Grou ...

, Gumpert developed the

Gumpert Apollo The Gumpert Apollo is a sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Altenburg. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, thereby ending the production of the Apollo. History In 2000, Roland ...

super sports car. Gumpert left Audi AG in the same year when GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg was founded. A year later, the factory, of which he became managing director, was renamed Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur. After the insolvency and the sale of the sports car manufacturer in 2014, Gumpert left it. This company was renamed

GmbH after the acquisition by its new owner.

Gumpert Aiways Automobile

After a career break of several years, Gumpert returned in 2017 as CEO of Gumpert Aiways Automobile. As the leading developer of the methanol electric sports car

Gumpert Nathalie The Gumpert Nathalie or RG Nathalie is a hydrogen-electric hybrid sports car running on methanol to generate hydrogen that is scheduled to enter production in 2021. It is the first car produced by the new car manufacturer RG founded by Roland Gum ...

, he has since been one of the pioneers of methanol fuel cell technology in the automotive industry.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gumpert, Roland 1944 births Living people People from Głuchołazy German automotive engineers German mechanical engineers German founders of automobile manufacturers 20th-century German engineers 21st-century German engineers