Our history

1981

Founding of VIKING in Kufstein, Austria. Production of its garden shredders was expanded continuously under Managing Director Heinrich Lechner.

1984

Three years after foundation of the company, VIKING began the development of its own line of lawn mowers.

1992

Following incorporation into the STIHL Group, "the global market leader for motorised saws", the company completely renewed its gardening power tool range.

1993

Dr. Nikolas Stihl, the grandson of the STIHL company founder, becomes the Managing Director of VIKING.

2001

In September 2001, only 4 km from the old company location, the new VIKING Competence Centre for Gardening Tools was opened, as a consequence of the old factory "bursting at the seams". Since then, the specialist for gardening power tools presents itself in a new, functional and attractive building.

2006

VIKING looks back at a 25-year success story. What began in 1981 with the first garden shredders has progressively developed into a complete range of ‘professional standard' machines for garden work.

2007

Expansion continues – construction phase II of the VIKING headquarters is complete.
With the expanded Competence Centre, conditions are being created for the company to manoeuvre even more effectively in the market in the future.

2011

In April 2011, Dr. Peter Pretzsch assumed the position of Managing Director at VIKING, replacing Dr. Nikolas Stihl. Dr. Stihl moved to the parent company STIHL in Waiblingen (Germany).

2012

The next extension to the company's site officially opened on 19th October 2012. The new building provides floor space covering 16,600 square metres and is home to new assembly units, a new production warehouse, workshops for tooling and prototype manufacturing, facilities for improved apprentice training and office space.

2015

The Norwegian Pekka Lundefaret sets a new world record for lawn mowers by reaching a speed of 215 km/h in a converted T6 with 408 horsepower.

2017

STIHL integrates VIKING and will focus on one brand – STIHL – from 2019 onwards. This opens a door to the world for the ground-based gardening tools from Langkampfen.

2018

A change of management and name. A change in executive management sees Clemens Schaller take on the position of Managing Director from Peter Pretzsch in May and this is followed by a change in the company name. VIKING GmbH becomes STIHL Tirol GmbH in July 2018.

2019

STIHL Tirol's largest extension to date has a usable floor space of 20,000 m² and was officially opened on 1st February 2019. The production of lawn mowers and other ground-based gardening tools has been greatly expanded along with the development facilities, and numerous new jobs have also been created.