Titan engineers next generation steering systems for the niche automotive industry

It’s often not the biggest but the smartest that drive innovation. That’s particularly true in these disruptive times, with the automotive industry in a race to adopt low-carbon technologies and active safety systems.

A decade and a half ago, Tesla was a startup, producing less than a thousand cars a year using a chassis built in Norfolk. Now, it’s the most valuable carmaker in the world.

There are other startups out there hoping to pull off the same trick – notably the likes of Ree and Arrival in the light commercial market. Alongside that, the UK has a small army of niche car manufacturers, grappling with how to confront a similar set of technological challenges to the large OEMs without the same resources.

The challenge here is volume, explains George Lendrum, CEO of engineering and manufacturing firm Titan: “The Tier Ones are generally geared up to support large OEMs. If a niche manufacturer approaches them for a steering system, it might cost £5 million and take three years to develop, at the end of which they’ll get something that’s based on an existing product. That’s not really what they need.”