KORREK IS A FINNISH CAR CARE BRAND
KORREK is the most popular car care series in Finland, and the brand’s degree of domestic origin is approximately 80%. All KORREK products are manufactured at Berner Ltd’s production facilities in Heinävesi, a small town in Eastern Finland.
Almost all KORREK products have been awarded the Key Flag Symbol by the Association for Finnish Work. This means that the product is manufactured in Finland and has a very high degree of domestic origin.
60 YEARS OF KORREK
KORREK products have been manufactured in Finland already for 60 years. The product range grows and lives by taking international trends into account. The starting point is to bring to the market car care products that are of the highest quality and as easy and as safe as possible to use.
SIX DECADES OF KORREK IN A NUTSHELL
In 1963, the story of the KORREK car care line began when KORREK Antisalt anti-rust agents were first launched on the market. The product name KORREK was formed of the Finnish words “KORroosion- ja RuosteenEstoKemikaalit”, meaning anti-corrosion and anti-rust chemicals.
In 1965, the first KORREK car wax was launched. Domestic product development produced immediate results: KORREK Car Wax won the first Finnish car wax test, which was published in the Finnish motoring magazine Tekniikan Maailma in 1967. A total of 15 different car waxes were tested.
Until the 1970s, car care products were mainly distributed by service stations and spare parts stores. In the 1970s, the use of plastic and vinyl in cars increased. Naturally, car care products were needed for their cleaning and maintenance. In 1973, KORREK Interior Cleaner was launched, and the retailer network was also expanded to retail stores.
In the 1980s, people generally serviced and repaired their cars themselves. This was also reflected in the KORREK product range: in addition to waxes and cleaning agents, several do-it-yourself products related to car maintenance were available, such as KORREK Radiator Wash, KORREK Brake and Clutch Fluid and KORREK Servol.
In the early 1990s, car waxes were combined with fluoropolymer, better known as Teflon, a DuPont-registered commercial brand. The KORREK product line was also supplemented with KORREK Teflox, a product containing this new chemical compound. The mechanical washing of cars had already become more common in the previous decade, and in the 1990s, the KORREK series was expanded to include mechanical car wash agents as well. Consequently, it was time to abandon the first KORREK anti-rust products.
In the 2000s, the KORREK product range was supplemented with a range of car care accessories that made car care a little easier and more comfortable. Novelty products included an imitation chamois, a polishing cloth and a rim brush by KORREK.
Since the 2010s, the car care industry has changed very rapidly, and the time people spend on car care has also decreased. It was therefore time to respond to the needs of consumers by developing products that were even easier to use. KORREK’s own Thin Film Coating technology developed in Finland is based on safe hybrid polymer technology. KORREK Pro products based on this technology were launched in 2016.
In the 2020s, the Thin Film Coating technology of the KORREK Pro series opened up opportunities for export trade. KORREK products are exported to, for example, the Nordic countries, Central Europe and Japan. The KORREK Pro product line has grown.
In 2022, the KORREK brand expanded to include the comprehensive franchising chain KORREK Pro Center providing car care services. KORREK Pro Center car washes offer a wide range of services, from washing and coating to windscreen replacement. The aim is to create a nationwide KORREK Pro Center chain for everyone interested in car care in Finland.
Berner is a Finnish family company established in 1883. In 2021, group’s turnover amounted to MEUR 417.7 and operating profit to MEUR 23.2. Berner employs around 800 people in the Group. The company headquarters, product development and production facilities are based in Finland, with subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Baltic countries.