As the automotive industry transitions to electric vehicles (EVs) and away from traditional CO₂-producing cars and vans, several fundamental obstacles must be overcome from a vehicle development point of view, to make EVs even more attractive to the consumer.

GKN Automotive has announced that it is accelerating its development of next generation eDrive technologies in response to the rapidly increasing global demand for electrified vehicles.

GKN Aerospace has announced that it will lead a UK collaboration programme, called H2GEAR, to develop the company’s first hydrogen propulsion system for sub-regional aircraft. Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in the decarbonisation strategy of aviation as it can power aircraft efficiently, leaving water as the only by-product.

GKN Aerospace is involved in the Smart Connected Shop Floor project as part of the UK’s Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge. UK government and industry are jointly investing to support businesses to implement new technology to boost their manufacturing productivity.

GKN Automotive has announced Dirk Kesselgruber as the new President of its ePowertrain division. Kesselgruber will be tasked with boosting the already rapidly expanding GKN eDrive business. He reports directly to GKN Automotive’s Chief Executive Officer, Liam Butterworth and joins from Schaeffler AG, where he was President of the Chassis Systems business. 

GKN Aerospace has taken ownership of its new Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bristol after the keys were officially handed over by developers St Francis Group. The new GTC - funded by a £17m commitment from GKN Aerospace and £15m commitment from the UK Government, through the Aerospace Technology Institute - will be fully kitted out over the next year and will open in HY2 2021.

GKN Aerospace has signed a follow-on Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract with the Swedish Armed Forces for the provision of comprehensive support for the GKN Aerospace RM12 engine. The RM12 engine powers the JAS 39 Gripen C/D fighter. This contract follows a series of multi-year RM12 PBL agreements and is expected to be worth approximately $440m.

The collaboration agreement covers the design and manufacture of wings, empennage and electrical wiring interconnection systems (EWIS) for Alice, the ground-breaking regional electric aircraft recently launched by Eviation. The aircraft is aiming to change the way people travel, by making journeys of distances up to 650 miles more sustainable.

As part of its commitment to supporting innovative startup businesses in the UK, GKN Aerospace will continue its sponsorship of the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Boeing accelerator with additional investment into the programme.

GKN Aerospace has reached a milestone in the ‘Wing of Tomorrow’ programme after designing, manufacturing, and delivering a mid-scale demonstrator tool to the GKN Aerospace Filton facility. This tool provides a fully functioning automated low pressure RTM system for the Airbus-led programme’s composite wing spar.

GKN Aerospace has announced details of a worldwide reorganisation in order to create a simpler, more competitive, customer-focused business. The business has grown rapidly by acquisition over recent years, increasing in scale from £600m turnover in 2006 to more than £3.5bn at the end of 2018.

In the first half of 2019 GKN Aerospace broke ground on a 10,000 square metre UK Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bristol and has secured 25 collaboration partners for the new Centre. The new GTC, funded by a £17m commitment from GKN Aerospace and £15m commitment from the UK Government, through the ATI Programme, is expected to open in 2020.

GKN Automotive, Drive System Design and the University of Nottingham are collaborating on an £8m project to design and develop an EV powertrain for the global market. ACeDrive (Advanced Cooling and Control of High Speed e-Drive) is backed by match-funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). Already progressing through concept selection, it aims to achieve the level of technology and performance outlined in the Automotive Council...

It has been announced that GKN Aerospace is to lead two collaborative additive manufacturing (AM) research programmes, AIRLIFT and DAM and will inject its Laser Metal Deposition by wire (LMD-w) AM technology in the programmes. AIRLIFT and DAM are focused on making AM serial production ready at high rates and exploring how AM can revolutionise product design for high value, high complexity product manufacture.

At the Paris Air show, GKN Aerospace announced that it has manufactured the first demonstrator wing components for Airbus’ ‘Wing of tomorrow’ research programme. The parts are samples of a section of the wing spar. GKN Aerospace’s wing technology aims to improve the productivity of the composite manufacturing process. The use of composite components can result in up to 20% weight savings.

  The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, and the Chief Executive of GKN Aerospace, Hans Büthker has revealed plans for GKN Aerospace’s new Global Technology Centre in the UK.

With the approval process now complete, GKN’s £280 /$440 million acquisition of the driveline products business of Getrag positions GKN Driveline as the global leader in the engineering and manufacture of AWD Systems and eDrive Systems.

GKN plc announces its agreement to acquire the all-wheel-drive (AWD) components businesses of Getrag KG, the privately held German company controlled by the Hagenmeyer family. The businesses being acquired, together referred to as “Getrag Driveline Products”, are Getrag Corporation, a joint venture with Dana Corporation based in the United States, and Getrag All Wheel Drive AB, a joint venture with Dana Holding Corporation and Volvo Car Corp...