Panthera Brand Guidelines: The Swedish Ultralight Wheelchair Maker Now in Permobil

A founder who designed his own chairs.

Panthera is a Swedish maker of ultralight manual wheelchairs. It was founded in 1989 by Jalle Jungnell, who had begun by designing manual wheelchairs of his own, the American trade magazine Mobility Management reported in November 2021. The company is based in the Stockholm area, where its website gives addresses in Spånga and in Solna.

From the start its aim has been weight. The Swedish website’s title line describes Panthera AB as a company that makes “the world’s lightest wheelchairs,” and Permobil, its owner today, says that Panthera’s goal “was, and still is, to build the world’s lightest chair.” Both are the companies’ own descriptions.

The range Panthera shows on its website covers adults and children. For adults there are the U3 and the S3, rigid-framed active chairs, and an S3 Swing; the U3 Light, which the company says is built for advanced users who can handle a finely balanced chair without anti-tip wheels, comes in a standard version and an “L” version with the rear axle set 22 millimetres further forward. For children there are the Micro 3, which the company says is meant for children between about one and five, and the Bambino 3, for children of about four to twelve, available in standard and short versions. In 2023 Panthera added its own seat cushion, the preTech.

The product pages describe the adult chairs in detail. On the S3 the company points to armrests whose height and depth can be set without tools, side guards with a soft upper edge that folds down when the user moves in and out of the chair, and anti-tip supports that the user can fold out and in while seated. The U3 differs from the S3, the company says, in having a front that curves inwards and a legrest angle five degrees tighter, for a more active seated position. The children’s chairs are updated versions of earlier models: the company says the Micro 3 gained a height-adjustable back, a choice of blue or black back upholstery and a removable push handle, and that the Bambino 3 has a push bar that can be taken off completely so that the child can propel the chair more easily.

Carbon fibre and the Panthera X.

The chair most closely tied to Panthera’s name is the Panthera X, which has a chassis and backrest made of carbon fibre. The company gives its transport weight as from 2.1 kilograms and calls it, by a wide margin, the world’s lightest wheelchair; Permobil repeats the 2.1-kilogram figure in its own description of the range. Those are the makers’ figures and claims.

The X shows how far Panthera pared a chair back. According to its product page it had a fixed rear axle rather than an adjustable one; the balance was set instead by four positions where the backrest mounts to the frame, the backrest angle could be adjusted, and the back height could be chosen in one-centimetre steps between 22 and 35 centimetres. The company’s page also explains that carbon fibre, though light and strong, can be marked by hard knocks, and points owners to a repair information sheet it published in 2012.

The Panthera X is no longer made. Panthera’s product page marks it as discontinued from 1 June 2025, and the order sizes are listed as no longer available, although Permobil’s overview of its brands still mentions the carbon chair. The aluminium chairs, the children’s models and the cushion remain in the range shown on the Swedish site.

Its product pages are written in Swedish, list dimensions in tables, and lead with weight: each page gives a transport weight in grams near the top, before seating dimensions and accessories.

Design and documentation.

Wheelchair and seating makers sell to several audiences at once: the people who ride their chairs, the therapists and seating specialists who measure and prescribe them, and the dealers and funders who supply them. Their catalogues and websites tend to show all three sides together — people using chairs at home, at work, outdoors and in sport, next to plain product views and pages of measurements and options.

The product picture is often a clean side profile on a white or pale ground, which lets the frame line, wheel camber and seat angle read clearly. Close-ups follow the materials: welded aluminium and titanium tubes, carbon-fibre weave, castors, push rims and folding mechanisms. Some makers name their models after the frame material or the sport, and offer made-to-measure versions built to a rider’s own dimensions.

Sport is a large part of the visual language. Court chairs for wheelchair basketball, tennis and rugby, with steeply cambered wheels and rear anti-tip castors, appear alongside racing chairs and handbikes. An International Paralympic Committee feature from April 2013 noted that, beyond size rules, basketball-chair designers face few restrictions, and that recent advances had come mostly in materials and welding. Makers often show their chairs with Paralympic athletes and club teams, and some sponsor sports associations.

The trade meets at fairs. REHACARE in Düsseldorf describes itself as a trade fair for rehabilitation, prevention, inclusion and care, with its next edition set for September 2027; in the United States, Medtrade serves the home medical equipment trade. This guide sets out what can be checked about each brand — who founded it, who owns it and where it says its chairs are made — and marks clearly what rests only on the company’s own word.

Two Swedish founders’ companies under one roof.

On 1 November 2021 Permobil, founded in Sweden by Per Uddén in 1967, announced that it was buying Panthera, Mobility Management reported. Permobil said the purchase “strengthens Permobil’s offer of manual wheelchairs” and that Panthera’s products complemented its portfolio; its chief executive, Bengt Thorsson, said Panthera would sit alongside Permobil’s Progeo and TiLite ranges. Jungnell said both companies had been started by Swedish entrepreneurs and had “innovation and development as a strong driving force.” The deal was expected to close in early January 2022.

Panthera now trades as part of Permobil. Permobil lists it among its product ranges and describes it as “now part of Permobil”; the contact details on Panthera’s Swedish website use Permobil addresses, and the site’s history page carries the Permobil mark. Permobil in turn says it is wholly owned by Investor AB, the Swedish investment company founded by the Wallenberg family in 1916. Panthera keeps its own name, website and product names inside the group.

For a design guide, Panthera shows how a small maker can build a whole identity around a single number, the weight of the chair, and keep that identity after joining a larger group. Compare Permobil, its owner, and TiLite, another ultralight range in the same group. For this guide we use fjord blue, moss and birch with a sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

Keep Panthera’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.