Momo
MOMO Srl is a design company headquartered in Milan, Italy that makes accessories and parts for automobiles. MOMO are the initials for Moretti-Monza.
Founded by gentleman racer Gianpiero Moretti in the 1960s, the company sponsored many prototype cars in the IMSA series including the Ferrari 333 SP sports prototype car, after Ferrari had retired from that racing category 20 years earlier. Using a Ferrari F1 engine, the car itself was built by Michelotto to World Sports Car regulations
In 1969 Momo opened production plant in Tregnago, Province of Verona.
Their product range includes consumer accessories such as steering wheels, gear shift knobs and alloy wheels, through to race equipment such as racing suits and helmets. MOMO air-bagged steering wheels have become standard accessories on some regional Subaru and Mitsubishi performance cars.
MOMO steering wheels were standard feature in the UMM Alter II from 1987 to 1991.
MOMO has also designed a steering wheel for computer peripheral company Logitech (called the Logitech MOMO), to be used as a video game controller. Thomas Superwheel controllers (a brand of high-quality, premium priced controllers) are also known to feature the MOMO name.
Due to increasing federal safety regulations and the wide adoption of airbags in passenger vehicles MOMO was sold to Breed Technologies in 1996, a leading steering wheel air bag manufacturer. Breed Technologies was acquired by private equity firm Carlyle Management Group and merged with other OEM automotive businesses they owned to form Key Safety Systems in 2003. Key Safety Systems sold the MOMO brand name to an Italian private equity group in 2006, but most of the manufacturing plants and technologies previously owned by MOMO were retained by Key Safety Systems.