DR Automobiles S.r.l. is an Italian automobile company, based in Macchia d'Isernia, founded in 2006 by Massimo Di Risio. The company produces cars adding Italian design and standards to components supplied by foreign companies such as Chery Automobile. The company, based in Macchia d'Isernia, Molise, soon became famous for its unusual initial marketing strategy; initially, without its own distribution network, the company has entered into partnership with Finiper Group. Until 2009 you could find and buy cars at hypermarkets. Today the company has its own supply chain with more than seventy dealers and more than a hundred Service DR on all the Italian territory.
History
DR was founded by Massimo Di Risio in 2006 with the intent to sell vehicles that boast an Italian design, counting on the support of other production companies for the supply of components. The idea for DR was born within the past experience of the founder Massimo Di Risio, who in 1985 founded the Di Risio s.r.l. for the distribution and commercialization of cars of various makes, including the Saleen S7. Later Di Risio founded Katay, a brand dedicated entirely to imports of Chinese Gonow vehicles. Today the company has a manufacturing plant, with a production rate of about 100 vehicles per day, at Macchia d'Isernia and bases in Rome, Campobasso and Pescara. Since 2009, seventy dealers were opened throughout Italy and a network of after-sales service centers with more than one hundred DR Service headed by Enrico Romano. Since 2010 the administration of DR is led by Roberto Risi, ex manager of Finance Manufacturing Worldwide of Fiat.
Models
The first car sold from the house is a SUV, called DR5, with Chery components and Bosch electronic. This model was presented as a prototype at the 31º Bologna Motor Show in 2006. Dr5 was the first DR model, launched in November 2007, and for the occasion Massimo Di Risio celebrated the moment with the symbolic gesture of punching the chassis number on the first car produced. The 33 ° Motor Show hosted the presentation of two other models: The compact SUV DR3 and the small city carDR1. The components of DR1 are derived from Riich M1 of Chery group. In Geneva the DR2 was presented, a 5-door subcompact which has been introduced on the market in spring 2010. In December 2010 was presented the DR3 in Bologna based on the Jonway UFO 3-door but never came in to production.
Thanks to the business strategy the automotive brand has become famous in Italy. Not having a distribution network outside the production site, DR has entered into an agreement with the Group Finiper to implement a distribution strategy and contacts with the public within supermarkets and shopping centers. In December 2009, in conjunction with the launch of the DR1, DR Motor Company has inaugurated its Italian sales network and terminated the contract with the Group Finiper. To date, the network dedicated to the distribution of passenger cars in DR has more than one hundred seventy dealers and workshops.
