Less plane, more
terrain

From humble beginnings in 1975, one Australian brand continues to inspire and facilitate the sole driven quest for adventure. Our expansive land is filled with history, natural beauty and thousands of kilometres of peace and tranquillity, and to experience the best parts of it, you’re going to need a 4WD.

2017 marked another record-breaking year in 4WD vehicle sales in Australia as two powerhouse brands battled it out for the top spot on the sales chart with the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, collectively, dominating the scene.

ARB 4×4 Accessories is Australia’s largest manufacturer and retailer of 4×4 accessories; and as the appetite for off-road adventure continues to grow, ARB has tasked itself with the responsibility of providing this market with an evolving range of new and innovative products to improve the experience.  

First and foremost, the ARB brand is known for its heritage in vehicle protection; most notably the bull bar.  In addition to designing and engineering 18 new bull bars for the global market, in 2017 this 42-year-old Australian brand celebrated an extraordinary milestone. “In amongst the excitement of so many innovative products being designed and released to market, in 2017 we celebrated manufacturing over 1 million bull bars; a landmark moment I’m sure wasn’t even a conceivable consideration 42 years ago” commented Brand Marketing Manager, Mark Berger.

And while it started in the 70’s, welding bull bars together on a garage floor, today ARB’s research and development team consists of over 60 design and production engineers. Each year the brand, staffed by 4WD enthusiasts, continues to increase its investment in developing new protection, canopy, lighting, storage, touring, traction and suspension solutions in an effort to quench the thirsts of its appetent customers.

In 2017, this renowned ‘bull bar’ company released the new Elements weatherproof (and arguably childproof) stainless steel 12-volt fridge freezer featuring a gas strut assisted lid and an electronically coded locking system; perfect for the 4WD, camper trailer or boat.  LINX, an innovative in-cab touchscreen interface was launched. With the promise of decluttering your dash and eradicating the requirement to drill holes for the installation of countless switches and gauges, LINX can control and monitor a myriad of 4×4 accessories including lighting, compressors, air-bag suspension, batteries, differential locks and more.  Building on an already strong driving light portfolio, 2017 also saw a new innovative 20-inch Intensity LED Light Bar hit ARB showrooms globally; The new American built light bar offers 4WDers a sleek low profile solution designed to wrap around ARB’s existing bull bar range for a new level of integration.

In a year of evolution, 2017 will mark the era when the rules of 4×4 ‘retail therapy’ were rewritten as ARB 4×4 Accessories opened 6 new modern showrooms across Australia. Additionally, ARB established a new centralised 16,000sqm warehouse in Victoria supporting improved distribution centres in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth to handle the growing store network and greater consumer demand.

With its roots firmly buried in Australian soil, the success of ARB’s ongoing product innovation has caught the attention of both our near and far international neighbours.  With a hunger for technology, global markets are looking to ARB for the next thing in off-road touring and competition. “The likes of the US market has long been a strong ambassador of ARB due to our strengths in design and engineering,” comments ARB Export Manager, Sam Eu. “the ARB Air-Locker has been at the heart of competition off-road challenges in America for decades.  Of more recent times, our Old Man Emu BP-51 internal bypass 4×4 shock absorbers have really stolen the show; this unique suspension has revolutionised off-road touring globally, taking technology that was previously only available to performance vehicles and being designed and distributed for the world’s most popular 4WD models.” Added Eu.

Now supplying 125 countries worldwide, ARB Corporation is one of the largest distributors of 4×4 accessories in the world; employing over 1100 nationally and 1600 globally, ARB is a quintessential Aussie brand who from its humble beginnings in Ringwood, Victoria and through its ongoing focus to develop world-class 4×4 accessories have captured the hearts of off-road adventurers’ worldwide.

Adventure Awaits.