What MAT Holdings makes

MAT Holdings is a privately held, diversified global manufacturer, marketer, and distributor headquartered in Long Grove, Illinois. It runs two broad categories, automotive and consumer, across roughly 40 factories on three continents. The automotive side, which contains the aftermarket business, is organized into three groups: the MAT Friction Group (brake pads, shoes, shims, back plates, drums, discs, and linings for passenger, commercial, and heavy-duty vehicles), the MAT Foundry Group (cast iron brake discs and drums), and the Suspension Components Group (shocks, struts, and suspension systems under the Gabriel and Reyco Granning brands). The consumer side covers air compressors and pneumatic tools (MAT Industries), gasoline outdoor power equipment (MAT Engine Technologies), and fencing, lawn and garden, and pet containment products (Midwest Air Technologies). MAT Logistics runs seven U.S. distribution centers totaling more than 2.1 million square feet.

The aftermarket division is where MAT sells replacement braking and ride-control parts rather than parts built into a new vehicle. MAT Auto Group supplies a full range of aftermarket brake pads, shoes, rotors, and drums, plus OE-style shocks and struts for passenger, commercial, and heavy-duty vehicles, and shock absorbers for ATV and snowmobile use. The company describes a systems approach to aftermarket braking, engineering calipers, pads, rotors, vehicle type and size, and front-to-rear brake bias together rather than selling parts in isolation. MAT also sells a commercial and heavy-duty friction line that uses Bendix trademarks under license from Garrett Transportation. As a Tier 1 and aftermarket supplier at once, MAT serves both OE/OEM/OES programs and the independent repair channel.

At the group level, MAT reports significant production scale. The Friction Group states it makes more than 24 million sets of passenger brake pads per year, along with millions of shoes and commercial-vehicle linings, across twelve factories with three R&D centers and 42 dynamometers for testing. The Foundry Group has historically produced over 350,000 tons of iron per year. Buyers evaluating a source of this size typically look at capacity, vehicle coverage, and quality systems together, the same factors covered in our guide to running a competitive bid.

Ownership and history

MAT Holdings was founded in 1984 by entrepreneur Steve Wang in the Chicago area and remains a family-owned, privately held company. Wang is the founder and serves as Chairman and CEO; the business grew from Midwest Air Technologies, a fencing and lawn-and-garden manufacturer, into a diversified group through a long run of acquisitions. Midwest Air began importing and selling aftermarket brake rotors in 1990, which seeded the automotive braking business that anchors the company today.

The company built its automotive footprint through targeted deals. It acquired Roulunds Braking and Meneta in the mid-2000s, founded MAT Foundries Europe in 2010 after buying assets from Sakthi Germany, and acquired Ride Control, LLC (the Gabriel shock absorber brand, originator of the first automotive shock in 1907) in 2012. In 2015 it bought two European friction plants from Federal-Mogul, at Marienheide, Germany and Noyon, France. On the consumer side, a MAT subsidiary acquired assets of the air-compressor maker Campbell Hausfeld in 2020. In June 2025 MAT moved in the other direction, selling four MAT Foundry Group Europe plants to the Munich-based industrial group AEQUITA, a restructuring of its European cast-iron footprint rather than a sign of distress.

Day-to-day leadership, per company materials and public professional records: Steve Wang as founder, Chairman and CEO; Joseph Maliekel as Chief Financial Officer; and Paul Thomas as President, North America and Global Friction, the executive over the aftermarket-relevant friction business.

Scale and footprint

MAT Holdings reports over 13,000 employees worldwide on its own site, with its company profile citing more than 14,000, and roughly 40 manufacturing factories across North America, Europe, and Asia. Self-reported global sales are in the range of $1.9 to $2 billion. The company does not publish audited financial statements, so these figures are company-reported bands rather than filed numbers.

The manufacturing base spans the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, China, Vietnam, and India, with friction R&D centers in Bad Camberg and Koblenz, Germany and Odense, Denmark, and cast R&D in Neunkirchen, Germany and Poole, UK. A large share of the friction and foundry manufacturing that feeds the U.S. aftermarket sits in India, where MAT operates its own components and technologies subsidiaries. That structure, offshore manufacturing of its own branded parts feeding domestic distribution, is visible in the customs record described below and is relevant to buyers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure.

Known customers

MAT Holdings sells through the automotive OE/OEM/OES channel and the independent aftermarket, so most individual customer relationships are not publicly named. What is documented is the nature of the programs rather than a named customer list:

MAT publishes program areas and licensed brands rather than a customer roster, which is normal for a supplier that serves both new-vehicle programs and the replacement channel.

Sourcing evidence

MAT Holdings appears in U.S. customs import records with 414 sea shipments and a most recent recorded shipment dated August 9, 2026, at a Lake Zurich, Illinois consignee address in the same 60047 ZIP code as its Long Grove headquarters. The named top foreign suppliers in that record are MAT's own overseas subsidiaries and affiliated brake makers, including MAT Auto Components India, MAT India Technologies, and Fomar Brakes India. In other words, the import activity is largely intercompany: MAT manufactures friction and braking parts through its Indian operations and imports them into the United States for its aftermarket and OE distribution, consistent with how the company describes its global manufacturing and U.S. logistics network.

Coverage caveats apply. These are U.S. ocean-freight records only; air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, and detailed origin-country and product-category breakdowns were not available for this profile. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence, and the shipment count reflects the parent consignee, not the full activity of every MAT subsidiary. For a fuller explanation of how to read customs data, see our note on the bill of lading.

Frequently asked questions

What does MAT Holdings make?

MAT Holdings is a diversified manufacturer of automotive and consumer products. On the automotive side it makes friction braking components (pads, shoes, rotors, drums, shims, back plates, and linings), cast iron brake discs and drums, and shocks, struts, and suspension systems under the Gabriel and Reyco Granning brands, for both new-vehicle programs and the aftermarket. On the consumer side it makes air compressors and pneumatic tools, outdoor power equipment, and fencing and lawn and garden products.

Who owns MAT Holdings?

MAT Holdings is a privately held, family-owned company. It was founded in 1984 by entrepreneur Steve Wang in the Chicago area, and Wang serves as its founder, Chairman, and CEO. The company is not publicly traded.

What is MAT Holdings' aftermarket business?

MAT Auto Group is the aftermarket arm, selling replacement braking and ride-control parts through the independent repair channel. Its range includes aftermarket brake pads, shoes, rotors, and drums, plus shocks and struts for passenger, commercial, and heavy-duty vehicles and shock absorbers for ATV and snowmobile applications. MAT describes a systems approach that engineers pads, rotors, and brake bias together rather than selling components in isolation.

Where is MAT Holdings headquartered?

MAT Holdings is headquartered at 6700 Wildlife Way, Long Grove, Illinois 60047, in the Chicago area. It operates roughly 40 factories across North America, Europe, and Asia, with major friction and foundry manufacturing in Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, China, Vietnam, and India.

How big is MAT Holdings?

MAT Holdings reports over 13,000 employees worldwide, with its company profile citing more than 14,000, and self-reported global sales in the range of $1.9 to $2 billion. It operates about 40 factories on three continents. Because the company is privately held, these are company-reported figures rather than audited public statements.

How many employees does MAT Holdings have?

MAT Holdings reports between roughly 13,000 and 14,000 employees worldwide across its automotive and consumer businesses. Point figures circulating in data brokers, some near 1,200, reflect only U.S. white-collar profiles and undercount a globally distributed manufacturing and foundry workforce.

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.