Gordon Murray Design Announce Technical Partners

1st November 2010, Gordon Murray Design today announce technical partners for their iStream® manufacturing process and City Car projects.

The Companies announced – Michelin, Shell and IPE Engineering – will develop their technical partnerships alongside Gordon Murray Design and have been selected as a result of the expertise and leadership they demonstrate in their respective fields:

MICHELIN have been working with Gordon Murray Design since 2008 to develop a new generation of tyres which include important technological advances with significant gains in terms of loading ability, running resistance, mass and grip, making it possible to offer tyres with overall improved performance for small, urban vehicles such as the T.25 and T.27.

SHELL and Gordon Murray Design will explore opportunities to co-operate in the joint development of lubricants and fuels technology for low carbon mobility and automotive designs.  Recently, Shell developed a bespoke lubricant formulation for the T.25 engine to reduce friction and benefit fuel economy. The results of the testing will be published in the near future. Shell is focusing R&D efforts on co-engineering programmes with automotive designers and manufacturers to develop engine hardware and lubricants together to give the most efficient overall solution.

IPE ENGINEERING is Gordon Murray Design’s technical partner for iStream® factory systems design for both the frame and assembly plants.  They offer customers turn-key iStream® factory solutions including time and motion studies, capital investment and complete factory layout.

Professor Gordon Murray, CEO & Technical Director of Gordon Murray Design said of the technical partnerships:

“We at Gordon Murray Design welcome the opportunity to work with Shell, Michelin and IPE who all share our focus towards a more efficient future in the automotive sector”.

Gordon Murray Design was established in 2007 to develop an innovative and disruptive automotive manufacturing technology trademarked iStream® - a complete rethink and redesign of the traditional manufacturing process which could potentially be the biggest revolution in high volume manufacture since the Model T Ford.

The simplified assembly process means that the manufacturing plant can be designed to be 20% of the size of a conventional factory. This reduces capital investment in the assembly plant by at least 80%. Yet the flexibility of iStream® means that the same factory could be used to manufacture different variants. The iStream® design process takes a completely fresh approach to the use of high volume materials in automotive production, as well as the manufacturing process and will lead to a significant reduction in full lifecycle CO2.

The design and prototyping of the T.25 city car was central to both the development and validation of iStream® and represents a major breakthrough in city car design in the areas of weight, footprint, safety, usability and efficiency.  Whilst applying a holistic and fit for purpose approach to the design and development of the T.25, Gordon Murray Design has taken the opportunity to incorporate solutions to multiple urban mobility problems. 

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For media enquiries contact:
Tiffany Hutt, Gordon Murray Design Limited
enquiries@gordonmurraydesign.com

Editor’s Notes:

1. Gordon Murray Design Limited is a British company operating from Shalford in Surrey. The Company aims to be the world leader in automotive design and reverses the current industry trend for sub-contracting by having a complete in-house capability for design, prototyping and development. The Company is compact and focused and undertakes automotive and other engineering programmes in an efficient and innovative way. For more information please visit www.gordonmurraydesign.com
2. Michelin Group is active on all continents and in more that 170 countries, manufacturing and selling tyres for all kinds of vehicles, publishes maps and guides and operates a number of digital services.  From invention of the radial tyre to the steel wheel, Michelin has played an active role at every stage of the automotive adventure. In 2009, Michelin produced more than 150 million tyres and 10 million maps and guides. For more information please visit  www.michelin.com
3. Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. Our headquarters are in The Hague, the Netherlands, and our Chief Executive Officer is Peter Voser. The parent company of the Shell group is Royal Dutch Shell plc, which is incorporated in England and Wales.  Our strategy seeks to reinforce our position as a leader in the oil and gas industry in order to provide a competitive shareholder return while helping to meet global energy demand in a responsible way.  In Upstream we focus on exploring for new oil and gas reserves and developing major projects where our technology and know-how adds value to the resource holders.  In Downstream our emphasis remains on sustained cash generation from our existing assets and selective investments in growth markets.  For the fourth consecutive year, Shell is the number one global lubricants supplier - selling more lubricants in 2009 than any other company in the world, with a 13.4% share of the market in volume terms (source: Kline & Company). For more information please visit www.shell.com
4. IPE Engineering GmbH is an international engineering consultancy specialising in development and realisation of innovative solutions for plant structures in production, logistics, energy supplies and management.  IPE Engineering has access to a highly developed network of architects, engineers and specialists from where they individually tailor the project teams for companies that engage their services ranging from industrial companies to small business firms planning to realise new manufacturing plants in their domestic market or on a global basis www.ipe-engineering.de