Legacy

Heinz helped set the foundation for Mercedes-Benz in America. His expert knowledge helped Mercedes-Benz with a foothold in a new market by focusing on service and value to the customer. Heinz Gietz with wife and daughter arrived in Chicago where he learned that it requires great risk to be rewarded with great opportunity.

In 1956, Heinz Gietz became the crew chief for Augie Pabst who was racing the 300sl Gullwing. Heinz Geitz’s experience and vast knowledge of the platform allowed him to make a natural transition into the crew chief position. During this transition Heinz Gietz solidified his expert knowledge of racing, gaining notoriety for his abilities on the track.

After moving to San Diego in 1961, Heinz Gietz was brought in as Service Manager and helped to establish Mercedes-Benz of San Diego. Heinz recruited young German mechanics to join him in serving the Mercedes-Benz owners.

Heinz bought a piece of land in La Jolla where he opened Autohaus, a privately owned and operated Mercedes-Benz dealership specializing in the Gullwing Platform. This experience afforded Heinz the realization that his hard work had paid off, as he had become a pillar of the community. Heinz was instrumental in turning La Jolla – historically a Cadillac town – into a Mercedes dominated market. During this time, Heinz serviced vehicles for some of the most famous faces of the 1960s including Sears Roebuck and Neil Morgan, then Publisher of the San Diego Tribune.

Heinz Gietz remains as the last of the original service-only dealers in the US. Focusing on customer satisfaction and high quality work allowed Heinz Gietz Autohaus to maintain a faithful customer base. Heinz Gietz Autohaus continues to increase its loyal following of dedicated clientele.

HG Performance was born. The legacy of the HG name lives on in a new generation through grandson and racing champion, Dieter Heinz. Dieter has taken the legacy of quality and workmanship and has expanded that to other platforms, passing the baton of quality service to other European platforms and honoring the track mentality having first originated with Heinz Gietz and Mercedes Benz.

Propelled by passion, the discerning client, and the ever evolving platform, HG Performance embarks on a path that caters to track/street minded individuals that demand the foremost in craftsmanship, performance and customer service. Expanding into its new facility located in San Diego’s Sorrento Valley, HG Performance provides the ultimate in state of the art equipment, factory trained Master Certified Performance Technicians, unparalleled customer service coupled with its continued passion for motorsports. This is also when Omar Mehr, longtime technician at Heinz Gietz Autohaus stepped into his role of Shop Foreman.

Heinz Gietz Autohaus was brought back into the fold by Omar Mehr, this time as HG Service. Not only did they maintain their level of excellence in the performance world but they found their niche within dealer-alternative service. Omar’s background with the original Autohaus in La Jolla made him the perfect candidate to reinstate it within the new company.

In April 2016 Omar became the General Manager of HG Motorsports. His experience and passion for high performance and quality service made him the obvious choice to carry the company into the future. It is also at this time that Alain Alba, the first technician ever hired by Dieter-Heinz at HG Motorsports, takes over as Shop Foreman.

Following the retirement of the daughter of Heinz Gietz, Sonja Gietz-Kijora, Omar was entrusted to keep the family name and the spirit that embodies HG Motorsports alive. He changed the name to HG Performance and moved the shop to its current location in San Marcos. State-of-the-art equipment and technicians still round out the roster at HG. Neema Mahzari, salesman since 2014, takes Omar’s place as General Manager.