Maxion Wheels Celebrates Guinness World Record of Most Countries Visited in a Continuous EV Journey
Maxion Wheels, a leading global producer of automotive wheels and proud sponsor of Rainer Zietlow and the Challenge4 team, is celebrating Zietlow’s successful Guinness World Record journey to visit the most countries in a continuous journey by a battery-powered electric vehicle. After 441 days on the road, the team returned to Hanover, Germany, having traveled 99,767 kilometers across 92 countries and six continents in a fully electric Volkswagen ID. Buzz equipped with Maxion light vehicle steel wheels.
The record-setting journey began on July 1, 2025, at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ headquarters in Hanover, Germany, and took the team through major cities, remote regions, deserts, mountains, and diverse climate zones around the world. Throughout the nearly 100,000-kilometer expedition, the vehicle rode on Maxion’s 18-inch passenger car steel wheels manufactured at the Company's steel wheel plants in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and Manisa, Türkiye.
The accomplishment demonstrates not only the growing viability of electric mobility on a global scale, but also the durability, reliability, and sustainability of modern steel wheel technology under some of the most demanding real-world driving conditions imaginable.
“The transition to electric mobility is creating new demands for vehicle components, and wheels have an important role to play in that evolution,” said Colleen York, Director of Global Marketing and Communications, Maxion Wheels, Iochpe-Maxion. “This world record put a series-production electric vehicle through nearly 100,000 kilometers of the most demanding driving conditions imaginable across six continents and 92 countries without a single technical breakdown. We are proud that Maxion steel wheels were part of that achievement, demonstrating the durability and reliability required to support the next generation of electric vehicles. The expedition also provided a powerful platform to increase awareness of the Maxion Wheels brand among audiences around the globe through a story of innovation, endurance, and possibility.”
For Maxion Wheels, the world record attempt provided a unique opportunity to engage employees, customers, and industry stakeholders across multiple regions in the automotive transformation discussion. During the journey, the Challenge4 team visited numerous Maxion facilities around the world, including locations in South Africa, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, allowing employees to learn firsthand how Maxion Wheels performed under real-world electric mobility conditions.
The successful completion of the journey also reinforces the message behind Maxion Wheels’ ongoing Look Again campaign, which highlights the continued relevance of steel wheels in the era of electric mobility. Combining durability, affordability, design flexibility, and sustainability benefits, modern steel wheels remain an important solution for automakers developing the next generation of electric vehicles.
This marks the second Guinness World Recor project supported by Maxion Wheels. In 2022, the company supported the successful Challenge4 expedition to the summit of Bolivia’s Uturuncu volcano in a Volkswagen ID.4 GTX, setting a Guinness World Record for reaching the highest altitude in an electric vehicle.
To learn more about the record-setting journey, visit www.idbuzz-worldtour.com and www.maxionwheels.com.
