French and British vehicle testing firms aim to scale up with merger

LONDON: The French group UTAC CERAM and the British group Millbrook, both of which are key partners to automotive customers in Europe and around the world, have today announced they have reached an agreement to merge their operations to create a market leading group in vehicle testing, homologation and emerging technologies for autonomous, connected and electric vehicles.

The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, subject to the normal regulatory clearances.

The combined group will draw on significant technological assets and technical expertise to meet the rapidly changing environment facing the automotive industry.

The new alliance will generate multiple synergies, creating a leader in complementary markets, combining high quality customer portfolios, developing an extended range of services and leveraging its deep technological resources, human expertise and broad geographical coverage.

Millbrook brings extensive expertise in automotive electric driveline development, in particular through its battery and electric drivetrain test centres based in Britain and the United States. These services will ideally complement UTAC CERAM’s expertise in ADAS and Euro NCAP testing and in cybersecurity, connectivity and simulation, as deployed in its Teqmo autonomous vehicle test centre.

The group will operate several test centres throughout the world — in France at the Linas-Montlhéry and Mortefontaine facilities, in the United Kingdom in Bedford and Leyland, in the United States in Detroit and California, in Finland at a vehicle test facility with indoor and outdoor winter testing tracks, and in Morocco with a brand new test centre offering a track where vehicles are exposed to extreme heat. The Morocco site is scheduled to open in 2021.

The new group will be headed by Laurent Benoit, the current president of UTAC CERAM.