Front Runner Vehicle Outfitters

Front Runner tells its own origin as a campfire legend: conceived in Botswana 'between a 1988 Land Cruiser 70 and a 1992 Mercedes G-Wagen' by a handful of South African friends with backgrounds in engineering, design, manufacturing and off-road racing, who resolved after repeated equipment failures on expeditions to build stronger gear. The company's about page as archived in November 2012 called it 'a 13 year old South African based company', which places the founding around 1999. Its early web presence, frontrunner.co.za, sold roof racks, roof tents, fridges, fuel tanks, winches and towbars, and by 2012 the range was organised around the Slimline and Slimline II roof rack kits, load bars and rack accessories.

The firm's works are at the corner of Forssman Close and River Road, Barbeque Downs, Kyalami, just outside Johannesburg, where laser cutting, bending and powder coating are done in-house in an ISO 9001:2015 certified factory. Front Runner racks and water tanks appeared on the Land Rovers of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's 'Long Way Down' from Scotland to South Africa, and the company records that many of its products were recognised as official accessories by Land Rover. A new showroom and warehouse opened in 2013, with regional offices later following in Europe, Australia and the United States; customers ranged from safari operators and NGOs to the United Nations.

The Slimline II, an all-aluminium tray with vehicle-specific mounting feet and a wind deflector, was made in full-length, half-length and tall kits for the Defender 90, 110 and 130 of 1983-2016 and later the 2020 Defender, alongside Discovery 3/4 fitments, and carries a limited lifetime warranty. Accessories bolt to the top, bottom and sides of the slats: jerry-can holders, sand-ladder brackets, tent and awning mounts, tables and Wolf Pack storage boxes.

On 20 May 2021 Dometic Group of Stockholm agreed to buy Front Runner Vehicle Outfitters, describing it as a global provider of roof racks, load bars, storage solutions and off-road accessories with about 320 full-time employees at its Johannesburg headquarters, net sales of about USD 35 million, more than 600 dealers on four continents and roughly half its sales through its own online channels; the deal, Dometic's fourth acquisition of the year, was expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. The Front Runner name survives as a Dometic product series, the Defender 90 Slimline II kit for example being a 1,964 mm tray with wind deflector and eight gutter-mount legs fitted without drilling; an 'all-new Slimline 3' rack was on pre-order in 2026, and the frontrunneroutfitters.com address now redirects to dometic.com.