Cooper Corp inks tech pact with Ricardo for new engine series

Cooper Corporation, one of India’s leading engine manufacturers, and Ricardo of the UK have underscored their longstanding collaboration by announcing their intention to jointly develop a new line of cutting-edge Cooper engines. As a result of this planned development, Cooper Corporation will expand its range of engines from 3.5 KVA to 1000 KVA. The entire range will be available in both diesel and CNG versions. The new Cooper engines will power applications for diverse sectors including automotive, gensets, marine, defence, construction equipment and agriculture. 

Working together with Ricardo, Cooper has made 52 variants of engines in six years including diesel and gas. Speaking about the association, Farrokh N Cooper, chairman and managing director, Cooper Corporation, said: “It’s a very proud moment for us and a big achievement for a company which has graduated from cast iron engine components to contemporary engines. With this association with Ricardo UK, we will be covering almost 75 percent of the range of products available in the market putting us in the same league as the biggest players in the industry in a relatively short period of time.”

Ricardo UK, one of the leading independent technology and strategic consulting providers to the world's transportation and clean energy industries, has designed this engine family (2-, 4- and 6-cylinder engines) for Cooper Corporation. While Ricardo will be responsible for the overall design of the engine, Cooper will develop all components for the engine, assemble and also conduct the required engine tests. On the automotive side, the aim to use these engines for off-roaders like Polaris vehicles and also for the new vehicle segment of quadricycles.

“Ricardo is proud to be partnering Cooper in the development of its class-leading family of engines that deliver high quality, clean and fuel efficient power to Cooper’s customers in India and around the world,” commented Martin Fausset, managing director, Ricardo UK. “The collaboration between Ricardo and Cooper has been an extremely successful in enabling Cooper to fulfil its ambitious plans for product development. Ricardo is pleased to have been able to work with Cooper in what has been – and remains – a fine example of engineering, technology and product innovation collaboration between the UK and India.”

Over the years, Cooper Corporation has consistently invested in the latest state-of-the-art technology across 75 acres of land at nine plants in Satara, Maharashtra, with the assistance of experienced consultants from all over the world. The company has set up its own R&D unit to explore the possibilities of developing new products. At present, the company supplies auto spare parts and engine components to all leading manufacturers in India and globally. 

Talking about the company’s growth and future plans, Farokh Cooper said, “Despite the overall recessionary trends in the country, Cooper Corporation has witnessed consistent and aggressive growth for the past five years across sectors because of our reputation for technology, aftermarket support and commitment to quality and service. Going forward, we intend to expand all our capacities in the cast iron foundry, aluminum foundry, engine lines and double our current turnover of Rs 700 crore in the next five years.”

“At Cooper, we always emphasise on future requirements and invest aptly in technology upgradation well in advance. In fact we were the first company to push for CPCB II emission norms as we were future ready,” he concluded.