Gabriel is the leading shock absorber brand in the South African automotive aftermarket and exports to Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, Australia and N. America. Its sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution operations, based in Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa, serve a network of wholesale distributors across South Africa and into Africa. Gabriel has a proud history of innovation and achievement stretching back to 1907 when Claude Foster – the automotive parts pioneer who founded Gabriel in Cleveland, Ohio, USA – developed and patented the first shock absorber called the “Snubber”. The company continued to prosper in the suspension business, pioneering many more firsts – the first hydraulic shocks (1918), adjustable shocks (1956 and 1967), position and velocity sensitive shocks (1979), gas-charged twin tube shocks (1983) and velocity sensitive technology for shocks and struts (1996). Gabriel first came to South Africa in 1935, importing all products from the US. Production in South Africa started in 1962 and sometime later, in 1984, Gabriel South Africa made its own contribution to Gabriel’s innovative history with the design and manufacturer of the “gas springs” which were promptly adopted by Gabriel plants worldwide. Today Gabriel South Africa employs nearly 300 staff members at its manufacturing plant in Retreat, Cape Town, producing shock absorbers, MacPherson struts, strut cartridges (pressurised and non-pressurised designs), and gas springs (Gabriel Gas Lift). Our state-of-the-art manufacturing plant houses its own research and engineering facilities. Prototypes are assembled, tested and re-tested here by qualified engineers under laboratory as well as actual operating conditions. Our products are distributed nationally to spares shops and workshops through our wholesale network; we also export some of these products internationally.