HOW MILLTEK BROUGHT URBAN TO THE USA
MARCH 21st - 2024
Milltek Corp’s USA Headquarters, based in the Smoky Mountains just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Founded in 1983, Milltek Sport has grown to become one of the leading manufacturers of performance exhaust systems. With headquarters in the UK and an additional development and testing center at Germany’s iconic Nürburgring race circuit, Milltek are at the forefront of the automotive performance world. In 2022 Milltek Sport announced a new $10.5 million USA distribution expansion. With this new expansion, Milltek entered the next phase of growth in the USA with the formation of a new company, Milltek Corporation, which has since also become the home of Urban Automotive USA. The popular British manufacturer now have a dedicated presence in North America, wholly supported by the team at Urban Automotive HQ in the UK. Our overseas sister company have been instrumental in this new USA expansion providing technical information and support every step along the way.
Milltek’s nearly 35,000 sq. ft. of space ensure that there is plenty of room to keep your favorite Urban Automotive parts in stock and ready to ship at a moment’s notice.
The brand new Milltek Corp facility opened its doors in August of 2022. The facility houses an on-site manufacturing and R&D facility along with thousands of square footage to stock Milltek and Urban products alongside a full team of sales, customer support and warehouse staff. After visiting multiple different states and potential locations for the new US hub, the company selected the Knoxville, Tennessee area as its location for a new 35,000 sq. ft distribution and manufacturing facility. The new Alcoa facility was selected with the help of the State of Tennessee and Blount County Economic Development, situated in a prominent and accessible position for courier networks and close to east coast ports for inbound sea freight. The building sits directly across from Amazon’s newest three million sq. ft fulfillment facility.
One of Milltek’s first orders of business after opening their US headquarters was outfitting a proper Urban kit. Of course, they chose a Defender 90 V8 and dressed it with a full Urban XRS Kit including 23” Urban-Vossen UVX wheels.
With an initial $2.5 million capital investment, followed by a further $8 million investment over the next five years, Milltek have invested heavily into North America. A dedicated, US-based customer support team is on hand for the entire Milltek Corp dealer network, including Urban Automotive USA. Through Milltek Corp, the company continues to build upon two decades of sales growth within the North American market, allowing us to support our existing USA dealership network and welcome more new specialist distribution partners into the portfolio. Milltek Corp have recently added Auto Finesse detailing products, Ram Air intakes and Tarox brakes to the portfolio in 2023 with more brands to come.
SEMA 2022 was the official coming out party for Milltek and Urban in the USA with the XRS Defender and the Mk8 Golf R on full display.
Milltek Corp CEO Steve Pound helps with final prep on the XRS Defender before the doors open at SEMA Show 2022.
“We’ve worked hard to remain at the forefront of manufacturer trends throughout our 40-year history,” said Steve Pound, Managing Director of Milltek Sport and CEO of Milltek Corp. “The US Domestic Market has always been an exciting one for us and plans for our next series of firsts for the USA are already well underway.”
