Lancashire-based company Torotrak, a developer and supplier of emissions reduction and fuel efficiency technology for vehicles, recently announced it agreed to a £23m deal to buy automotive technology firm Flybrid Automotive.
The deal saw the company acquire the remaining 80 per cent of Flybrid Automotive shares after Torotrak originally purchased 20 per cent of Flybrid shares for £3m earlier this year.
The company’s directors said they believed that the acquisition of Flybrid would provide Torotrak with the leading commercially viable flywheel technology in the market, offering low cost, high performance hybrid systems for mass market adoption in passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
Jeremy Deering, Chief Executive of Torotrak, said: “Today’s announcement marks a significant step in our strategy to capitalise on the substantial opportunities in global automotive markets in the next few years.
“The acquisition of Flybrid enables the Group to commercialise an affordable hybrid system (Flybrid M-KERS), that the directors believe is capable of mass market adoption. The funds raised support our plans for low volume manufacturing and accelerated testing facilities for a start of production in 2015 to supply initially the UK bus market. For mass car markets, the strategy over the next 12 to 24 months is to increase our engagement with vehicle OEM and Tier 1 manufacturers to maximise the opportunities for take up of our V-Charge and Flybrid M-KERS technologies from 2017 onwards as tougher new CO2 regulatory targets are implemented.”
