1986: side mouldings

Self-adhesive lateral mouldings for cars

How the project came about

The idea came to Varani Graziano, owner of Combicar, a company that produces rubber profiles for the industrial sector. The inventor patented a special self-adhesive profile for application to cars not fitted as standard with side bumper mouldings, without the need to make holes in the sides of the car. The discovery and the patent refer to the self-adhesive application of the moulding on metal bands.

Our input

The company looked to us for consultancy on the discovery. After analysing the patent and the market in collaboration with one of our partners, we decided to invest directly in the discovery along with the company responsible for creating it. We dealt with the marketing of the product. The invention effectively resolved a problem faced by drivers and, in next to no time, a million sales were clocked up. To this day, Combicar remains the leader in this sector.
In 1989, we decided to come out of the project.

 

Why was it successful?

Side profiles on car doors were already much appreciated for their use in protecting the doors from lateral impacts. However, to this day, many models  are not fitted with them as standard. The success of this product has been due to the possibility it affords to apply a self-adhesive kit easily, without the need to make holes in the door.