Thirty years ago, in April 1995, as a 24-year-old, I travelled to the notary in faraway Balen near Mol to set up AtraXion bvba. I had a plan, AtraXion would become a wholesaler in tyres, wheels and 4x4 Accessories.
The name AtraXion includes ‘traction’ as a reference to tyres and rims. We would also make off-road cars more beautiful and equip them with bullbars, sidesteps, spotlights... so we would also make the cars more A-ttractive, hence the A. Finally, someone had a genius idea to write Atraction with an X, in reference to 4 X 4AtraXion, so it became AtraXion.
I remember very well which cars were important: Suzuki Samurai and Vitara, Daihatsu Rocky and Feroza, Nissan Patrol, Toyota Landcruiser 70 and Hilux. Those iconic vehicles have evolved and so has AtraXion evolved with the times. The introduction of the mobile phone, the internet bubble, the disappearing of the revolutionary fax, Corona....we got through it in one piece. Today, I do sometimes feel that we have become a computer company that happens to deal in tyres, rims and 4x4 accessories.
I never wanted to be a computer company but it is the foundation of our success. Where we want to continue to make a difference as AtraXion, even in the next 30 years, is personal contact and service. An academic word for our strategy is ‘customer intimacy’: we are going to continue to do everything we can to support our dealers to deliver the best products at a livable margin to the end user. We are going to continue to listen to our dealers, we are going to continue to recruit staff who will treat our dealers the way you want to be treated ourselves. We are very happy with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence, it is going to help us in this strategy but it will never be able to replace the human aspect.
Written by Jan Van hoolst - 13.03.2025
Atraxion’s sheperdJan is the passionate founder and manager of Atraxion. He founded the company in 1995 and works devotedly day and night in the company. He has an extensive car knowledge, but he excels in 4x4, old-timers and those ‘special cases’. Everything is passion: the relation with our clients and suppliers, the interaction with employees, the brands we distribute,… . Finally Jan is also our shepherd, he watches over us and sees to it we love going to work every day.