New Partnership Targets High Value in Design and Engineering Services

NUNEATON, UNITED KINGDOM – April 6, 2009: Renown Italian design house Torino Design and global development partner MIRA have signed a collaboration agreement that delivers a turnkey design, development and certification service to automakers, targeted at providing the highest quality design and engineering on a global basis. The Anglo-Italian collaboration is founded on a lean business model that offers world-class service at a very competitive cost.

The automotive industry is facing considerable challenges as the effect of the global downturn scythes through the biggest corporations in the world. Exciting and attractive new products are required to entice reluctant consumers back into showrooms, but development budgets remain under great pressure. Recognising these unique constraints, the Torino Design – MIRA collaboration is carefully constructed to provide the quality of design and engineering required but at the right cost for market conditions. This is particularly welcome news for automakers desperate to maintain the integrity of their product pipeline, whilst internal resources are scarce.

Announcing the deal, MIRA’s CEO Dr George Gillespie enthused: “Italian styling & British engineering …it’s a powerful combination that’s makes a strong case for outsourcing. We’re sure this collaboration will be welcomed by leading automakers who have come to rely on and trust our individual services. Together we are bringing the best of both companies in one lean and integrated package that makes the whole process more efficient and satisfying for our customers. Our turnkey service now extends from that first blank sheet of paper, right though to homologation papers.”

Roberto Piatti, Torino Design’s Founder, CEO and Managing Director observed: “Our idea is to propose a new business model that defends the design capabilities of Turin and restores the city’s competitive edge in an increasingly cutthroat global context. Our structure is carefully sized so to develop all high know-how activities in house to ensure high quality and control over the project - and by teaming with MIRA we extend our capability from styling research and prototyping right through to Job 1. Our customers demand the very best people and technology, supported by full accountability, so that’s what we’ve set out to give them.”

Torino Design provides car and product design services to leading brands throughout the world. Its task force of professionals are adept at all the critical aspects of styling and design; but in a departure from convention, the fabrication of models and prototypes is conducted at the best suppliers of Turin under the coordination of Torino Design’s Chief Modellers, offering superior quality at a more reasonable price by lowering overheads.

MIRA’s award winning1 design and development expertise is a perfect fit with the flair of Torino Design, ensuring a right-first-time engineering approach that minimises the requirement to build costly prototypes in quantity, whilst delivering the necessary confidence to take new designs forward quickly with minimal physical testing.

At the signing of the agreement, Dr George Gillespie remarked: “We have cherry picked the best attributes of the international consultancy market and combined them to offer the kind of contractual assurance that single sourcing provides, and deliver the high quality design and engineering demanded by our customers.”

In closing, Mr Roberto Piatti noted: “Our reputation is based on very skilful and experienced people with years of background in cooperating with the worldwide automotive industry and the combination with our partner MIRA is offering a unique turnkey solution for your new projects. I am confident that we can set up together a very professional team combining the best of our companies and I look forward to a long cooperation.”