MIRA Ltd.

Last updated

HORIBA MIRA Ltd.
Formation1946
Legal statusPrivate Limited Company
PurposeProviding engineering services to global automotive and transport industries
Location
Region served
Worldwide
Parent organization
 Horiba
Website www.horiba-mira.com

HORIBA MIRA Ltd. (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) is an automotive engineering and development consultancy company headquartered near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It provides product engineering, research, testing, information and certification services to the automotive sector. Its headquarters are in the MIRA Technology Park Enterprise Zone. On 14 July 2015 MIRA announced that it was being bought by the Japanese-owned testing equipment group Horiba. [1]

Contents

History

Origins

MIRA was formed in 1946 and was mostly government-funded. It is based just off the A5 near the junction with the A444 near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where over six hundred staff work, with another establishment in Basildon in Essex. The company dates back to the foundation of the Cycle Engineers' Institute (CEI) in 1898, which became the Incorporated Institution of Automobile Engineers (IAE) in 1906. The IAE became the Automotive Branch of the IMechE in 1946. The IAE and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders were largely responsible for creating MIRA.

Pooling of expertise

After World War Two, the UK car industry was finding it difficult to export to countries where it formerly had little trouble finding markets for its wide range of cars. It was decided by the government to pool the research resources of UK car manufacturers into one site to reduce costs and possibly find new technological advances sooner that could be incorporated into all ranges of UK vehicle makes. The principal auto-makers were located in the Birmingham area, apart from Vauxhall which had its factory in Luton and Ford which by now was located at Dagenham to the east of London. [2] The Motor Industry Research institution under its director Dr Albert Fogg (who would later become Engineering Chief at British Leyland) therefore looked for a location that was reasonably accessible from all these locations, and the site near Nuneaton fulfilled that criterion. [2] The facilities became available to MIRA member companies in October 1948, though at this stage the test tracks consisted only of disused runways. [2] They were finally opened on 28 April 1949 by Dr Fogg who used explosives to cut the ceremonial tape. [3] Facilities were nevertheless developed under Dr Fogg and Professor Robert Macmillan who took over the directorship from Fogg in 1964. [2] Such examples include the half mile Belgian Pavé road used in vehicle tests, completed in 1950. [4]

Secondary safety

Marking the increasing concern with secondary safety at the time was the opening by the Minister of Technology Tony Benn, in April 1968, of MIRA's indoor rig for crash-testing cars in head-on impacts. [5] Such tests, at 30 mph (48 km/h), had recently become mandatory for cars sold in the US. [5] The MIRA crash rig featured the UK's largest industrial linear induction motor. [5] It was based on a design by Professor Eric Laithwaite of Imperial College. It replaced a complicated outdoor system that had involved the "victim" car's final seconds being controlled by means of a radar-operated remote device from a following vehicle. [5]

Commercial organisation

Since 1975, the funding arrangements for belonging to the organisation went from a membership subscription (or levy – mostly irrespective of the quantity of work that took place for individual manufacturers) for car companies to a fee-based system. Currently, the site has around £110 million of test equipment. On 4 July 2001, the organisation changed its name to MIRA Ltd. At this point, it also became liable for corporation tax. It bought the Creative Automotive Design consultancy in March 2003. The company's turnover has increased 4.9% to £45.7m in 2013, producing a £6m surplus which was all reinvested back into itself. On 14 July 2015 MIRA announced that it was being bought by the Japanese-owned testing equipment group HORIBA and changed its name to HORIBA MIRA Ltd.

Technology park

HORIBA MIRA is headquartered within the MIRA Technology Park, a park for automotive research and development. [6] In 2011 the UK government announced that the 850 acre park would become an enterprise zone. [7] Companies who have moved into the park include Haldex and Aston Martin. In February 2015 the government announced that the enterprise zone would be expanded. [8]

Former airfield

The proving ground which forms the largest area of HORIBA MIRA is built on 760 acres (310 ha) of the former RAF Lindley airfield, named after the nearby Lindley Hall Farm [9] after the former Lindley Hall. [10] This farm claims to be the centre of England, [11] if calculated by the centre of mass method, similar to a centroid. Meriden also makes a similar claim. The Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway used to pass along the south-east perimeter of HORIBA MIRA, and is now the Weddington Country Walk. The line was open to freight until 1971, and had a station at Higham on the Hill on the perimeter of HORIBA MIRA.

Operations

HORIBA MIRA is a provider of product engineering, research, testing, development and certification to the worldwide transport industry. Its work includes crash testing, aerodynamic design and vehicle ergonomics. It was developed to provide research for UK companies but now provides engineering consultancy to clients worldwide.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamkorp</span>

The Kamkorp Group was a privately held holding company, encompassing a wide range of businesses but operates mainly as Frazer-Nash Research Ltd. It was owned by UK-based Indian businessman Kamal Siddiqi. Over the past 25 years, the Kamkorp Group has developed proprietary digital electric and hybrid electric powertrains and products for the transportation and industrial markets. The company has produced various automobile prototypes under the brands Frazer-Nash and Metrocab. Until 2020 it owned Bristol Cars, under which brand the Bristol Bullet sports car was being developed. The Bullet was unveiled on 26 July 2016 and production was to have started in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuneaton</span> Market town in Warwickshire, England

Nuneaton is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in Warwickshire, England, located adjacent to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east. Nuneaton's population at the 2021 census was 88,813, making it the largest town in Warwickshire. Nuneaton's larger urban area, which also includes the large adjoining villages of Bulkington and Hartshill had a population of 99,372 in the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daihatsu</span> Japanese automotive manufacturer

Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd., commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daewoo</span> Defunct South Korean conglomerate

Daewoo also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol and automobile manufacturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tata Motors</span> Indian multinational automobile manufacturing company

Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces cars, trucks, vans, and busses.

Mira is a star in the constellation Cetus

Eicher Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive company that manufactures motorcycles and commercial vehicles, headquartered in New Delhi. Eicher is the parent company of Royal Enfield, a manufacturer of middleweight motorcycles.

Lucas Industries plc was a Birmingham-based British manufacturer of motor industry and aerospace industry components. Once prominent, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In August 1996, Lucas merged with the American Varity Corporation to form LucasVarity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FAW Group</span> Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer

China FAW Group Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Changchun, Jilin. Founded on 15 July 1953, it is currently the second largest of the "Big Four" state-owned car manufacturers of China, together with SAIC Motor, Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Changan Automobile.

Unipart Group is a British multinational logistics, supply chain, manufacturing and consultancy company headquartered in Cowley, Oxfordshire, England. It has operations in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan and works across a variety of sectors that include automotive, retail, technology and rail. It is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the UK; being 70% owned by its workforce and pension fund while the other 30% is held by sympathetic institutions.

A proving ground (US) is an installation or reservation in which technology such as weapons, military tactics and automobile prototypes are experimented with or tested. Proving grounds can be operated by government bodies or civilian industries. They are distinct from military training areas which are run by the military and intended for the routine training and exercising of troops across the terrain.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. Its role is to "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Rudd</span> British motor racing engineer (1923–2003)

Anthony Cyril Rudd was a British engineer involved in aero engine design and motor racing, with particular associations with BRM and Lotus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaguar Land Rover</span> British multinational automotive company

Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. It is a subsidiary of Tata Motors and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, UK. The principal activity of Jaguar Land Rover Limited is the design, development, manufacture and sale of vehicles bearing the Jaguar and Land Rover marques.

The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) is an organization that produces guidelines for the software developed for electronic components used in the automotive industry. It is a collaboration between vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers and engineering consultancies. In 2021, the loose consortium restructured as The MISRA Consortium Limited.

International Automotive Design was a British design company, based in West Sussex, England.

Horiba, Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of precision instruments for measurement and analysis. They make instruments that measure and analyze automobile exhaust gas, and environmental, medical and scientific applications.

The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (2007) was awarded on 21 April 2007, by Queen Elizabeth II.

Robert Hugh Macmillan was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Swansea University and went on to become Director of the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) where he installed an early linear induction motor to investigate vehicle safety, as well as overseeing MIRA's successful transition to a commercial research organisation. He ended his career as a Professor at Cranfield University.

The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (2018) was awarded on 20 April 2018, by Queen Elizabeth II.

References

  1. ↑ "HORIBA Acquires MIRA in Historic Sale to form HORIBA MIRA Ltd. | MIRA". www.horiba-mira.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "What MIRA stands for". Motor. 10 May 1969. pp. 75–78.
  3. ↑ "MIRA: World-class Vehicle Engineering, Test and Development | MIRA". www.mira.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "MIRA: World-class Vehicle Engineering, Test and Development | MIRA". www.mira.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "News: New MIRA test facility". Motor. 6 April 1968. p. 73.
  6. ↑ Waddington, Jenny (5 July 2013). "Nuneaton-based MIRA reveals impressive year of growth". Coventry Telegraph . Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "New 'enterprise zones' announced around England". BBC News Online. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Waddington, Jenny (12 February 2015). "Nuneaton-based MIRA gets green light to expand Technology Park". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Lindley Hall Farm photo
  10. ↑ Lindley Hall Archived 9 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the website of Weddington Castle. 2008. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  11. ↑ A tale of two centres, BBC News, 22 October 2002 Retrieved 2011-10-05.

52°33′12″N1°27′51″W / 52.55333°N 1.46417°W / 52.55333; -1.46417

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.