Manufacturer Profile - WeatherTech
4th Nov 2020
American David MacNeil was already working in the automotive industry in the 1980s, when a break to the UK reinforced his view that car floor mats back home lacked sufficient quality – especially for luxury vehicles.
He was in a job that gave him the perfect perspective: vice president of sales for AMG (before the performance company was fully integrated into Mercedes-Benz). With his entrepreneurial spirit kindled, MacNeil re-mortgaged his house in 1989 to finance a new company that would import and sell the higher-quality mats he’d discovered in the UK. Eight years later, the company known as WeatherTech went fully homegrown, opening a factory in the outer suburbs of Chicago with a mission to produce the world’s most advanced floor protection.
Today, WeatherTech continues to be a proud US company that not only employs almost 2000 Americans across nearly a dozen facilities but also uses American technology, machines and materials. As an exporter to more than 84 countries, its success isn’t limited to home soil.
WeatherTech Founder David MacNeil - Image Courtesy WeatherTech.
A comprehensive product range has extended well beyond floor mats, although ‘protection’ remains a constant theme. There are bonnet protectors, stone/bug deflectors, tray/bed linings, bump-steps, sunshades, seat covers, removable cupholder coasters, and also storage solutions. WeatherTech has also expanded into home/business protection and pet accessories, while it offers its own range of ‘TechCare’ detailing and cleaning products.
Floor mats are still WeatherTech’s core product, though – notably the FloorLiners and All-Weather Mats that are tailored precisely for specific vehicles. The two styles of custom-measured floor protection both undergo development – at the company’s Product Development Center – involving virtual 3D modelling via CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture) software and metal moulds created by CNC machines, though the manufacturing processes differ.
FloorLiners, the most advanced mat, are made from a patented High-Density Tri-Extruded (HDTE) material. In a thermoforming process, large HDTE sheets are heated to a certain temperature in an industrial-scale oven and then pressed and vacuum sealed onto the cooler metal FloorLiner moulds created using digital laser measurements.
The FloorLiner is distinguished by its high edges, which helps protect the sides of the front footwells, and clever surfacing that channels dirt and water into a lower reservoir and away from feet. All-Weather Mats – as well as the All-Vehicle Mats that aren’t custom measured – are constructed from Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE), a flexible yet durable material that is free of latex, PVCs, cadmium or lead. These mats are formed using sandwich-style, high-pressure injection-moulding machines that MacNeil has described as “Like a waffle maker”.
Up to 200 floor mats can be made every hour with the injection-moulding machines.
The All-Weather Mat features more deeply sculpted channels designed to trap chunkier debris as well as water, mud, sand or road salt – and they’re easy to remove and hose down. WeatherTech says the mats are also resistant to extremely cold temperatures so they won’t harden and crack.
All the floor mats produced are 100 per cent recyclable. WeatherTech’s website naturally caters for the majority of its customers, though those living close enough to the company’s headquarters in Bolingbrook, Illinois – just over half an hour’s drive from Chicago – can visit the factory store.
The store includes on-site installation services carried out by WeatherTech professionals. And while customers wait for their vehicle to be fitted with a selected product or wait for their product order to be ready at a pick-up window, they can sit down for a barista-made coffee at the in-store café.
Customers include car manufacturers. In the US, parent company MacNeil Automotive supplies accessories to brands including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
MacNeil’s passion for vehicles extends beyond helping people keep their vehicles as pristine as possible. He has contested a handful of races, which have included featuring in America’s IMSA Sportscar Championship of which WeatherTech continues to be title sponsor.
He’s also a renowned collector of classic cars that includes several legendary Ferraris.
And proving that apples don’t fall far from the tree, his son Cooper races modern Ferraris for WeatherTech Racing in the IMSA Sportscar Championship.
Upfitter is an authorised Australian retailer for a wide range of WeatherTech accessories and equipment. To see the full range of WeatherTech products available for RAM, Ford, Silverado and more visit the storefront. Can't find what you're after? make a Product Request
