124 years of glass expertise
1897 Jacobs & Dandor founded in South Africa.
1899 Company purchased and name changed to Plate Glass Bevelling and Silvering Company.
1907 The City Glass Bevelling & Silvering Works company founded.
1917 City Glass purchases Plate Glass.
1919 Companies are merged as Plate Glass Bevelling and Silvering Company.
1921 Morrie Lubner joins the Plate Glass Bevelling and Silvering Company.
1927 Company wins contracts with General Motors and Ford to supply glass for vehicle assembly.
1930 Plate Glass sells their first safety glass product for vehicles.
1939 During the war years Plate Glass makes bullet resistant glass.
1952 Ronnie Lubner joins the company.
1953 Plate Glass secures business rights to curved windscreen production.
1962 Expansion of the vehicle glass business begins with the acquisition of a national network of vehicle glass shops in South Africa.
1966 Morrie Lubner appointed Chairman of Plate Glass.
1971 International expansion starts with the acquisition of O’Brien® Glass in Australia
1983 International expansion continues with the acquisition of two vehicle glass replacement companies in the UK Autoglass® and Windshields. Consolidated as Autoglass Windshields Limited.
1984/5 Windshields dropped from the name.
1990 International acquisitions are grouped together under the name Belron, with Ronnie Lubner as CEO. Further international acquisitions in France, Germany and Belgium.
1991 Glass Medic® repair system developed and spread across the group to offer a quality alternative to replacing windscreens.
1992 Belron is bought by South African Breweries.
1997 Company celebrates its 100th anniversary with Nelson Mandela attending the event in South Africa.
1999 D’Ieteren, Belgium’s biggest car distributor and major shareholder in Avis Europe, acquires Belron.
2000 Gary Lubner named CEO of Belron. First Best of Belron competition takes place in Belgium with eight technicians taking part.
2001 Franchising of the Belron business model begins, the first operation opens in Greece in December.
2004 Belron Technical formed to implement the Belron Way of Fitting across the group.
2007 Belron acquires US market leader Safelite®.
2008 Ronnie Lubner made Life Chairman.
2009 Global people recognition programme launched, now known as the Belron Exceptional People Awards.
2010 Belron becomes signatory to the United Nations Global Compact Ten Principles of Responsible Business and launch Belron Code of Ethics – Our Way of Working.
2011 Belron designs the 1-Tek®, a device to help technicians lift and place heavy windscreens. Belron is now operating in over 30 countries, covering 6 continents.
2014 Belron’s first driver assistance system recalibration is undertaken, in Germany.
2014 First Belron triathlon at Dorney Lake takes place involving 1,000 people from 22 countries
2016 The Belron Training Centre opens in Braamfontein, Johannesburg for Afrika Tikkun to provide young people with key skills for their career development
2017 Belron welcomes new minority shareholder Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
2020 The Belron Ronnie Lubner Charitable Foundation is launched in memory of Ronnie who died in late 2018. In its first full year the charity donates over EUR 2 million to 270 charities around the world.
2021 Belron welcomes new shareholders Hellman & Friedman, BlackRock Private Equity Partners and GIC.
The future of Belron
We will continue to offer motorists all over the world the same excellence in service and quality, harnessing the power of technology for an industry-leading customer experience and continuing our strong tradition of giving back to society.
Making a difference with real care
Our purpose and values run through everything we do.
