A locally owned and internationally recognized manufacturing company, Bodyguard Bumpers, recently signed a distribution agreement with wholesale distributor Keystone Automotive Operations, a division of LKQ Corporation, in the truck and off-road category.
Bodyguard, an aftermarket automotive manufacturing company, was founded by Tigertown resident Grant Mallicote. Now located in Paris, Texas the company is ran by Mallicote and his wife, Kelli, who are taking the company to new heights.
“We really pride ourselves in designing and producing high quality Texas-made products at our facility in Paris,” said Kelli. “Grant started this company at his family’s farm shop in Tigertown and to be able to finally bring all the manufacturing processes in-house and ship product across North America is pretty awesome.”
The Mallicote’s business grew exponentially after their flagship product, the A2L Series bumper, premiered on the market in late 2016. The series appeared on more than 50 vehicles at the largest automotive show in the world, The SEMA Show, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to local awards, over the last few years the company and the owners individually have received multiple awards at SEMA for rising industry talent as well as new product category awards.
Reaching another milestone in their journey, the Mallicotes recently signed an agreement with Keystone Automotive, leading industry wholesale distributor. Bodyguard exhibited over the weekend at Keystone’s annual trade-only show, The Big Show, as a new bumper vendor where thousands of buyers from across North America were in attendance.
“We are excited to partner with Keystone and we know this relationship will only further strengthen the service level to our customers moving forward,” said Kelli. “We value what Keystone will bring to the table covering more than 30 million miles across North America and we look forward to serving as a strategic manufacturing partner for the truck and off-road industry.”
The distribution partnership will bring Bodyguard’s full line of aftermarket automotive accessories to dealerships in a timely fashion, offering distribution services throughout North America. Keystone clients will be able to access Bodyguard products with ease, with fast shipping and quality assurance as a result of the new partnership.
Keystone operates 7 warehouses and 38 non-inventory stocking cross-docks across America and Canada, according to their website. Boasting more than 500 delivery trucks, Keystone provides next-day delivery for customers in all 48 continental U.S. States, nine of the Canadian Provinces and even service customers in more than 40 other countries.
“We feel Keystone embodies the model in a distributor we were looking for with warehouse operations that pick, pack, and ship around the clock to make sure the product is delivered on time,” said Kelli. “They cover a lot of ground in North America and we look forward to being able to better serve the automotive industry going forward.”
