The new T1 Evo by Liberty, which will be produced at the group’s new £10m centre of excellence at Leamington Spa, is designed to exceed the performance of previous Evo models.
The T1 Evo, which is being developed by the group’s Liberty 920 Engineering (920E) business, will incorporate features including active aerodynamics and suspension, a heads-up display, and canopy style cockpit, according to Anthony Blackwell, managing director of 920E.
“While the exact specification and experience will be reserved for its eventual owners, I can say it is expected to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the most ferocious performance vehicles on the planet,” said Blackwell.
Limited to a production run of 25 vehicles, the Evo will also include a bespoke power train system with optional all-wheel-drive configuration, a new carbon fibre chassis, and driveability enhancements including ABS, traction and stability control.
The vehicle is designed to showcase the engineering capability of the Liberty House group, to which Liberty Vehicle Technologies belongs, said Blackwell. “It will be created at the new advanced engineering facility, and will be led by the engineering team there,” he said.
As a technology showcase, it will incorporate high performance brakes developed by 920E, which supplies advanced braking systems to Formula One, NASCAR and other motorsports, as well as precision castings and control electronics from elsewhere in the group.
“There will also be an element of electrification and hybridisation,” said Blackwell.
The company will also be using 3D printing technologies to produce some of the vehicle’s titanium components.
The T1 Evo is expected to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the most ferocious performance vehicles on the planet
Although the company has yet to finalise the production schedule, vehicles can be reserved from today, said Blackwell.
The hyper-car is the next generation of the T1 high-performance vehicle which still holds the original Top Gear track record. Early development of the hyper-car has been undertaken by Liberty’s engineering team, in collaboration with Daventry-based race-car design specialists JRM Group.
The new 50,000 square-foot centre of excellence, which was also unveiled today and is set to open in early 2018, has been designed in a bid to boost the group’s technological development firepower, and to enhance its manufacturing capability in advanced automotive components.
The engineering centre, which will be built next to the existing 920E facility in Leamington Spa, will act as a Group-wide development centre, housing a range of design and manufacturing activities. These include the 920E braking systems business and its integrated electronic light-weight park brake system.
The new centre of excellence will also design and manufacture the ‘Trillion by Liberty’ range of premium bicycles.
Liberty, a supplier to several major vehicle manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, also announced that it has acquired Daventry-based vehicle control systems business, Shiftec, which develops advanced mechatronics.
Announcing the new investment, Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of the Liberty House Group and the GFG Alliance, said the UK has a vibrant vehicle manufacturing industry, which produced over 1.7 million cars and 93,000 commercial vehicles in 2016. “That provides a huge opportunity to grow our own domestic supply chain and provide UK auto producers with local alternatives to the flood of imported components currently used in British vehicles,” he said.
The GFG Alliance, of which Liberty is a member, is pursuing a strategy known as GREENSTEEL, in which it is attempting to connect low-carbon UK metal, manufactured using recycled materials and renewable energy, with advanced engineering, to produce high-value automotive components.
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