Dymag embarks on ambitious growth strategy
Dymag, the company behind the state-of-the-art performance wheels used on some of the top performance vehicles in the world, is embarking on an ambitious growth and development journey from its HQ in Wiltshire, England.
Dymag Group Limited (Dymag) designs and manufactures lightweight carbon composite hybrid and full carbon wheels for cars and motorcycles. The company supplies both complete wheels and carbon barrels (rims) as sub-components to third party aftermarket companies in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan. Its clients include a global supercar brand, which is supplied on an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) basis. Other OEM deals are in the pipeline.
Dymag’s aftermarket wheels are designed and manufactured to internationally recognised standards and are fitted to vehicle brands including Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche, Lamborghini and JLR’s Jaguar F-Type. The firm’s technology has a full UK patent for its unique design, which strengthens the wheel rim using different materials constructed to deliver a complete wheel that is lighter, stronger and faster than conventional designs. The wheel is highly durable and performs safely in high impact conditions, such as hitting potholes.
The company is ready to scale up production to offer its technology to other automotive businesses, thus delivering some of the functional advantages already enjoyed by high performance users. The wheels are tough but lightweight, creating a significant carbon footprint advantage in terms of fuel economy and, in the case of electric vehicles, in range per full charge.
Dymag plans to increase its production capacity with the aim of driving down costs as it strikes agreements with leading tier one automotive suppliers which specialise in wheels and structural composite components for the automotive, industrial and aerospace sectors. The resulting agreements will see this British technology applied to wheels on mid-market cars and other vehicles in the passenger vehicle market.
Carbon fibre wheel weight reduction benefits are huge; estimates from a leading sportscar OEM manufacturer suggest a Dymag Carbon Hybrid wheel is typically at least 40% lighter than an equivalent cast aluminum wheel.
Chris Shelley, CEO of Dymag, said: “The technology is now starting to move into mainstream vehicle production having been developed and proved in advanced supercar applications. At present wheels are produced in relatively small run numbers of hundreds per month. We are ready to deliver on a plan to scale up production to thousands per month. The planned increased capacity will also drive prices down rapidly, bringing them towards economic viability for all passenger vehicles.
“International competition is modest but also gearing up for a ‘transformation’ in wheel technology. An Australian firm has recently raised US$50m on sales expectations in this important niche sector of the future automotive supply chain market. We have been talking to a number of interested investors and have scaled up our plans to meet their ambitions and the opportunities we see in the future market.”
The UK firm is planning to raise an additional £5m of growth capital in the next year, resulting in a new production line ultimately capable of delivering 50,000 wheels per year.