INTERVIEW WITH THE OWNER JENS MOETEFINDT
‘‘ After I was finished with school, my father said, ‘I want to stop working when I am 50, will you make it longer for me?’ So I said, ‘Sure, I want to run it’.” When Jens Moetefindt took over the eponymous trailer dynasty in 2004, he had an enormous challenge on his hands. Entrusted with protecting and building upon more than 20 years of history, started in his father Philipp’s garage in east Germany, Jens could have been forgiven for adopting a riskaverse approach while he learned the ropes, but that couldn’t have been further from reality.
Under his stewardship, Moetefindt has gone from strength to strength, from a company that exclusively traded in handmade products to become Europe’s leading manufacturer of high-quality trailers, renowned for providing solutions that optimise unrivalled precision engineering and are tailored to the specific requirements of individual users.
As a regular competitor in VLN Endurance events on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, Jens knows from first-hand experience that his customers require practicality and ease-of-use in their trailers. This, combined with Jens’ innate understanding of the materials – their properties, and strengths and weaknesses – from his studies in applied metallurgy, ensures no stone is left unturned in Moetefindt’s pursuit of excellence.
Having invested in specialist tools and overseen the grand opening of a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Hamburg in 2015, Jens has streamlined the production process by incorporating adaptable components that can be used across different product lines, from vehicle transporters to promotional vehicles.
“We developed special components that we can use from 750 or 1500 kilos up to 20 tons, for example the floor,” explains Jens.
“It’s a bit like Lego – you can make it bigger, smaller, longer, wider, harder, softer and so on.
“You have to work out what customer A needs and what customer B needs and go from there. If customer A wants this and customer B wants that, although they are far apart they will still have certain components in common, so I can use this to satisfy both of them.”
Just as the company grew by word of mouth in its early days as Philipp, a farmer by trade, began selling trailers to order, today the business continues to grow in much the same way, not least when Jens is at the race track.
“I have always enjoyed racing on the Nordschleife, it’s a lot of fun,” says Jens. “But it’s not always possible to focus 100% on the racing as I have drivers from other teams knock at the door and ask me to box 25 because they want to buy a trailer!”
Moetefindt will continue to push the boundaries of innovation to new levels in 2018 and has ambitious plans to showcase its ground-breaking automatic suspension technology by securing a Nordschleife lap record for a car towing a trailer, with a professional driver behind the wheel.
It’s a feat that has never been attempted before, but if history is anything to go by, Moetefindt isn’t one to shirk a challenge. Watch this space…
“IT’S A BIT LIKE LEGO – YOU CAN MAKE IT BIGGER, SMALLER, LONGER, WIDER…”