Ricardo’s record engine production

A total of over 2,000 engines were manufactured by Ricardo in the six months to the end of October – more than has been achieved in any previous full year.

Ricardo’s engine production has served a total of 15 major automakers and engine suppliers, providing everything from prototypes through pre-production units, to niche volume series production of high performance products. The breadth of this engine manufacturing activity ranges from single cylinder engines used for research purposes through to V12s for marine and power generation. It also encompasses cylinder bore sizes up to in the region of 200 mm and pressures of greater than 300 bar, and both naturally aspirated and multi-stage boosted engines, including next generation hybrid powertrain systems.

Despite the production of a record-breaking total of over 2,000 engines in six months, the expansion of Ricardo’s advanced assembly plant and continued investment in its prototype engine build facilities, means that there is considerable further capacity available to support the future prototype and niche production requirements of the company’s international client base.

“The fact that our production operations at Shoreham have supported 15 different OEMs with a record number of engines over the past six months, shows that Ricardo has truly arrived as a manufacturer of advanced and high performance powertrains,” commented Ricardo Performance Products managing director Mark Barge. “This is an operation that extends beyond Ricardo to the sophisticated supply chain that has seen us, for example, globally sourcing over three million components in just a little over the past five years. Together with Ricardo’s extensive capabilities in design and development of some of the world’s most advanced performance, highly efficient and low carbon powertrain systems, we can now offer one of the world’s most advanced and proven engine production capabilities from prototype to niche volume, and covering multiple sectors from performance cars to off-highway, power generation and marine applications.”