Preston-based Torotrak, a developer and supplier of emissions
reduction and fuel efficiency technology in vehicles, is to close its Leyland
headquarters and make all staff based at the site redundant.
This is indeed the end of
an era. But the end cannot be allowed to pass without some comment being made.
For it seems that faith has been lost in the concept of traction drive
transmissions which had its heart in Leyland, Lancashire for so many years.
This is an era that many
people have forgotten about. Or not even aware. Some may regard it as a
nostalgic era, when the future appeared not only bright but lucrative.
The era extends back at
least until around 1962 (the actual date is unclear as one of the principal
participants is no longer alive) when a 1957 Hillman Minx fitted with a Perbury
continuously variable transmission (CVT) covered some 25,000 miles of testing to
prove the capabilities of the CVT developed by Forbes Perry of Perbury
Engineering Ltd.
Perbury Engineering developed
a CVT for a car project centred within the British Technology Group (BTG and formerly
NRDC) out of which blossomed Torotrak plc based at Leyland in Lancashire where
there was also a CVT programme, again based on the Perbury design.
The era certainly embraces
BL Technology, a small part of British Leyland, tasked with exploring new
technology and based at Gaydon, in Warwickshire – now the home of Aston Martin
and JaguarLandRover. Perbury-type transmissions were developed on this former
RAF airfield site.
It is fair to say that
designs of the Perbury transmission were based on the Hayes transmission (once
fitted to Austin cars), it being the point at which Forbes Perry’s designs
began to evolve and improve this type of transmission. He probably started serious
work circa 1957.
A great deal of water has
passed under the bridge, most of it happening within the confines of the
facilities in Leyland Truck & Bus which undertook some work in applying the
technology to buses. Facilities in Leyland near to the original truck plant became
the bedrock for Torotrak.
Executives of major automotive
companies made their way to Torotrak Leyland during the last 50 years, all in
search of the ‘perfect’ seamless transmission – that disappearing elixir. But
for one reason or another, the reality eluded everybody.
Perbury Engineering was
for many years the hub of the fountain of ideas. Yet no one liked to admit that
a stand-alone engineer knew more about the transmission than anyone else. It
was as if he did not exist. Boffins at Leyland believed they knew everything
and looked down their noses at ‘clowns’ working in workshops in deepest
Oxfordshire.
The little company in
Oxfordshire however built a variety of experimental prototypes including those produced
by Leyland Truck & Bus, from which people moved across to nearby Torotrak
as the company evolved.
Careers built on the back of CVT technology
Countless technical papers
have been written down the years in Europe, Asia and North America, about CVTs
as engineers expounded their ideas about one tiny facet or another of the
design. Indeed, careers were forged on the back of the Perbury system.
Now it looks as though,
in a bid to cut costs, a huge slimming down process is under way which could
see the end of the Perbury-type transmission. Of course, many will dispute that
the current design is a Perbury design, as so many man-hours have been invested
in pushing out the frontiers of knowledge to expand the power base of
understanding of this simple design which relies on traction drive
characteristics.
Torotrak plc, which
specialises in the use of ground-breaking KERS technology for buses and
V-Charge to boost the power of smaller engines for cars, has seen its share
price tumble as the car industry has turned its attention to electric cars
instead of making traditional engines more efficient.
Interestingly, none of the directors of the company have any history in toroidal transmissions - a passion to drive the technology forward into the market place. None has held board directorship for longer than four years, with the exception of non-executive chairmanNick Barter who joined in 2003. The most recent encumbent is Adam Robson, (April 2015). John McLaren and Rex Vevers joined in June 2013 while Jon Hilton, who is also president of the prestigious Institution of Mechanical Engineers, joined in January 2014.
In January, Torotrak
(which has seen chief executives come and go) announced a
strategic refocus of the group including the consolidation of its engineering
resources to reduce its ongoing cash operating costs. Indeed, it is possible that some may view Torotrak's acquisition of Flybrid Automotive as a clever device for the Silverstone-based company to reverse into Torotrak plc. Time alone will reveal the outcome.
The company, which also
has an office and workshops in Silverstone, has not given details of how many
people will be affected but company accounts to March 2016 show it employed 85
staff, 57 of which were engineers at the Leyland site, and it had a total wage
bill of £4.7million.
Significantly, perhaps,
the Silverstone unit was the technology hub for Flybrid Automotive which became
part of Torotrak and led to the emergence of Flybrid executives having a
greater say in the running of the company. After all, it was Flybrid Automotive’s
KERS technology which now appears to be driving Torotrak forward – if indeed it
is making any headway at all.
Last year’s Torotrak plc pre-tax
losses almost doubled to £14.3million on a turnover of £1.2 million. Could
Torotrak be on the verge of throwing in the CVT towel? It appears not from
today’s statement. But who knows the truth?
“The board
continues to focus on realising value from Torotrak’s technology portfolio and
other assets,” Torotrak said today in a stock market statement.
The group
said it expects to close the financial year to the end of March with £5.1 million
in cash, in line with expectations but added that the net assets of the company
will fall below half of the value of the called-up share capital.
Under
Section 656 of the Companies Act 2006, when this happens the directors are
required to call a general meeting of the company to discuss whether steps
should be taken to deal with the situation. It will hold this meeting on 31st
May.
“The board
does not consider that any steps are required to be taken beyond those already
in hand and accordingly, no resolutions will be put to Shareholders at the
General Meeting,” it said.
So there
we have it. The company rumbles on. The question has to be raised, after this
recent activity: just how long can Torotrak survive? The technology does not
seem to be attractive enough for an OEM to step in and buy the company to add
to its portfolio. But of course this could change.
Only in
the minds of those ‘running’ Torotrak is there perhaps the germs of ideas to
take the technology strands forward. But these minds are holding their real thoughts close to their chests. Whether the truth of Torotrak's collapse ever emerges remains to be seen.
