Our History

Although the history of the Mecatechnic brand officially began in 1983, we need to go back to the late 1970s and Armel Le Gourrierec to discover the beginnings of the story of our brand, which specialises in parts and accessories for air-cooled VWs in France.

Our self-taught Breton worked in development at Strakit, a manufacturer of off-road buggies. He was a fan of off-roading and motor racing. At that time, it was common to use numerous Beetle parts and Combi gearboxes in the construction of these racing vehicles. Armel set about creating a “French-style Baja” and designed the Bugster, an off-road Beetle approved for road use (classified as a MOD on the registration document following MOT testing), with the front and rear ends cut off. Our enthusiast then had the idea of organising the range of existing VW parts and founded the Mecatechnic brand in 1983. He promptly opened an engine and gearbox tuning workshop and a shop near Chartres. The business quickly gained popularity, and several of his projects attracted attention from VW enthusiasts, manufacturers of microlights fitted with flat-4 engines, and, of course, in the world of off-road motor racing; Lada Nivas were even prepared there for the Dakar Rally.

In the late 1980s, with the launch of Super VW Magazine, Mecatechnic began targeting enthusiasts and owners of both standard and modified Beetles. The first “cal-lookers” were won over, discovering a range of parts and accessories previously unknown to them, thanks to imports from the United States!

This enthusiasm would, in the years that followed, enable Mecatechnic to continue on its path, supporting VW enthusiasts, right up to the boom in mail-order sales in the 1990s.

The air-cooled VW movement was in full swing, but Armel decided to sell Mecatechnic. The new owners, including Gaëtan (our chairman), then came up with the idea of introducing new services to benefit all customers. Having moved to the North in 1991, the cradle of mail-order sales, the workshop and competition department gave way to a range featured in a proper catalogue showcasing a permanent and much larger stock of parts.

The range evolved and expanded to include water-cooled VWs (Golf & co) as well as parts for Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and Audi.

As time went on, it became crucial for Mecatechnic to evolve alongside its customers!

Based on a clear observation, Mecatechnic was also able to meet the needs of owners of 2CVs, 4Ls, and so on, through ‘universal’ parts – but that wasn’t all!

This realisation led to the launch of a new e-commerce site in 2012: monancienne.com. (Some of you may have come across it!)

It went it alone for a few years before the range was added to the mecatechnic.com website.

A little later came the launch of Toolatelier.com! We embarked on an exciting project to create our own tool brand. How cool is that!

DIY, yes, but with the right tools! Since 2014, we’ve been developing this range of tools, which are now also available on mecatechnic.com

Next, we ventured into van life and the motorhome market via www.roadloisirs.com – This site allows us to bridge the gap between ‘vans’ and the big ‘white ones’ (NB: motorhomes)

In 2016, Mecatechnic had the opportunity to expand the family by welcoming new cousins based in the south! The company DPAN (Distribution Pièces Auto Narbonnaise) has now become a subsidiary of Mecatechnic.

Based in sunny Narbonne, its team runs comptoirducabriolet.com (the leading distributor of soft tops and accessories for convertibles in France and Europe).

They also manage a second e-commerce site: ideal-cover.com, which offers all kinds of vehicle covers.

In 2023, our MECATECHNIC brand will celebrate 40 years of serving our customers. By the way, there’s a really great video on YouTube!

In 2026, we’re working on a new chapter by modernising our tools.

The aim is to offer our customers and staff the best possible experience. Quite a challenge!

In short, all of this is aimed at fuelling our ambitious growth plans in France and across Europe.

Our mission: To enable everyone to live out their passion for cars!