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.