DETROIT
- It took 18 months for engineering consultant Ricardo
Inc. to build a monster military truck.
Its
tires stand as tall as toddlers, sitting under an
armor of khaki steel. Inside, it's a hybrid, which
gets about 6 ¼ miles per gallon, 25 percent better
than the 5 m.p.g. that trucks like these usually get.
The
engineers at Ricardo point to the speed and technology
involved in projects like this one for the U.S. Army
as the bread and butter of this consulting firm.
A
designer and builder of engines, Ricardo's U.S. sales
are on the rise, as the company tries to help
automotive and commercial truck firms as well as the
government bring more fuel-efficient vehicles to the
road.
"We
help automakers get there faster with more
fuel-efficient products," said Sandy Stojkovski,
Ricardo's director of vehicle engineering.
"Nobody can afford to pick technologies that
aren't the most cost-effective."
Ricardo
is hiring to do just that. The company, which has been
part of 30 hybrid programs in the past decade, is in
the middle of building a new advanced battery center
at its Van Buren Township, Mich., campus to develop
battery packs for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The new
center, which is to cost more than $2 million, comes
at a time when automakers are racing to build more
fuel-efficient vehicles, as drivers flock to cars to
save money on gasoline.
But at
the same time, automakers are shedding thousands of
white-collar jobs to save as truck sales plummet.
"The
biggest opportunities that Ricardo has seen in its
history have come in times of crisis," said Dean
Harlow, president of Ricardo's U.S. operations.
Still,
cost cutting has forced automakers to defer and cancel
programs, making it more important for Ricardo to
diversify outside of the industry.
"We're
rapidly reducing our dependence on those having
financial struggles," Harlow said.
In the
United States, the company's sales have shifted from
Detroit automakers to military agencies and
alternative energy projects such as capturing wind and
solar power to use in generators.
"Right
now is a good time for Ricardo in the United
States," Harlow said.