Our history
Where it all began
Around 1950
The French engineer Eugene Houdry invented the automotive catalyst and founded the Oxy-Catalyst Company.
1963
The Clean Air Act brings the first federal legislation in the US.
January 1965
R&D for automotive catalysts began at Degussa in Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany. Dr. Edgar Koberstein, one of the founders, was instrumental in the development of catalysts.
First successes | 1970-1983
1973
Our first commercial success resulted in the construction of a new test center in Hanau-Wolfgang (Germany) combined with production capacity in Rheinfelden (Germany), Burlington (Canada), and Calvert City (USA).
1974
As lead is a severe poison for catalysts, the introduction of unleaded fuel in the US was a crucial step. Nine years later, unleaded fuel was also introduced in Germany.
1977
Automotive catalysts became mandatory in California.
Around 1980
One million catalysts in the market!
Legislations all around the world | 1983-1999
1985
The Mercedes S-Class, fitted with our catalyzed Diesel particulate filter, was introduced to the market.
March 1986
We presented the latest developments and applications at the World Congress of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
1989
Our new R&D center opened.
We established new production plants in Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Sweden.
Around 1999
10 million catalysts in the market!
Diesel engines in passenger cars | 2000-2008
2003
Umicore acquired the entire automotive catalysts business from Degussa (OMG).
A new plant in Suzhou, China, was built.
2007
The acquisition of Delphi's catalyst activities made Umicore Automotive Catalysts one of the big three players in the market.
2007
The Daimler-Chrysler's Bluetec I was introduced as one of the most sophisticated applications.
A new test center was built in Hanau-Wolfgang.
Numerous new technologies were successfully introduced into the market, i.a. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) for diesel and NOx Storage Catalysts (NSC) for lean burning gasoline engines.
2008
100 million catalysts in the market!
Umicore: new innovations, plants & R&D | 2009-2015
New plants were built in emerging markets (Pune, India) and established regions (Bad Säckingen, Germany; Nowa Roda, Poland).
New test centers were built in China, Japan, South Korea.
Around 2015
Almost 200 million catalysts in the market!
Strong focus on R&D and close cooperation with high tech universities
2016 - now
Umicore's strong future orientation is creating cutting-edge technologies to meet ever-tightening legislations.
