HORIBA MIRA accompanies UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to China, unveils partnership with global wheel manufacturer Dicastal

HORIBA MIRA, Ltd. (HORIBA MIRA) – a HORIBA Group company in UK that specializes in advanced vehicle engineering, research, development and testing – has announced a partnership with the largest global aluminum wheel and chassis component manufacturer, CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd. in China.
HORIBA MIRA announced the new deal during the Prime Minister’s trade visit to China. Theresa May’s three-day trip saw 51 delegates accompany the Prime Minister to foster British trade opportunities in China and promote the UK as a great place to invest.
The UK government is investing in the field of automotive electrification and autonomous driving vehicle development. With HORIBA targeting this field as one of its growth pillars, they received the honor of being selected to accompany the visit to China.

UK prime minister Theresa May has arrived in China with the largest business delegation　

Contributing to lightweight solutions in developing electric vehicles in China

The new partnership sees HORIBA MIRA provide data crucial to understanding the unique Chinese environment, specifically road load data to improve Dicastal’s fatigue analysis process in the design of aluminum wheels. This will help Dicastal better understand how its wheel technology performs on varying road surfaces during a typical vehicle life in China.
HORIBA MIRA’s expertise in the creation of vehicle durability targets for the Chinese and Global automotive markets will be utilized by Dicastal to better understand the full vehicle durability requirements when developing their next generation of products.
This collaboration will also enable Dicastal and HORIBA MIRA to explore the wider benefits of aluminum as a lightweight alternative to steel. With China’s increasing focus on electric vehicles, which require the use of lighter materials in their manufacture, there is increasing demand for the global automotive industry to invest in developing lightweight components.

Responding to the “growing demand for the development of lighter automotive components” – comments by George Gillespie OBE, CEO of HORIBA MIRA

“This trade visit to China underpins HORIBA MIRA’s commitment to investing in the region and we are pleased to have completed an agreement with Dicastal during the state visit. There is a growing demand for the development of lighter automotive components and this deal will enable us to work closely with Dicastal to support the growing electric vehicle market with innovative light-weight solutions.
The past few years have seen HORIBA MIRA expand rapidly in China, with our China team seeing a 50% increase in staff in the last year alone. We look forward to further growing MIRA China as well as continuing to open up international business opportunities in the coming years.”

Links

CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd.
HORIBA Automotive Test Systems
HORIBA MIRA Ltd.