We are implementing special measures in the light of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation and will keep you informed as circumstances evolve. Currently the position is as follows:

1) We are regularly reviewing the situation so the arrangements may change with circumstances, our policy is to be pro-active, flexible and swift. Government advice is being applied and communicated to management and staff through email and written briefings. Preparedness plans include:

a) Home working and associated technology

b) Minimisation of face to face meetings by use of conference calls/email/video/Skype/MS Teams

c) Minimisation of inter-site travel by use of conference calls/email/video/Skype/MS Teams

d) Prohibition of non-essential travel and travel to Category 1 areas as defined by the Government

e) Application of Government guidelines on infection notification and isolation protocols

f) Increased contract cleaning routines and special cleaning processes for high-risk areas/surfaces

g) Split working areas and shifts combined with cleaning activity to reduce cross-contamination

h) Health monitoring and staff status matrix

i) Key job covering plans with alternative senior management

j) Functional roles are identified that can be covered by administrative/management staff

k) An emergency communication group has been established

2) Operating effectiveness is currently at 100%. Carwood maintains and tests an ongoing Business Continuity Management Plan. This plan has been reviewed and updated in view of the current Covid-19 pandemic. We are maintaining a daily senior management assessment of the situation and modifying our plans and responses accordingly.

3) We are currently not experiencing or being notified of any significant supply-chain disruption or risks. We are pro-actively managing and working with our suppliers and logistic partners to maintain continuity and minimise potential impacts through forecasting and schedule reviews.

4) Supply-chain mitigation strategies include:

a) Regular requirements review and order status tracking

b) Bringing forward critical parts delivery times

c) Increased stock levels of critical parts

d) Implementation of the Carwood formal alternative supplier/product approval process

e) Use of secondary supply and logistics partners following approval

f) Use of company internal logistics capability (own transport) for critical items

g) Notification to customers of any changes to scheduled deliveries or planned performance

5) We are considered to be a Critical Infrastructure business as we support defence, emergency and transport services, we will therefore remain operational under all circumstances.

Carwood have entered the glamorous world of motorsport by acquiring the Motorsport assets and trade of Brise Ltd.

Brise has over 35years experience in the development and manufacture of starters & alternators and other specialist products for the competition and specialist road car sector. Brise has amongst its’ customers many top level manufacturer teams that have won both the WRC (World Rally Championship) and WEC (World Endurance Championship) in the last few years, also top UK and European Mail order catalogues such as Demon Tweaks and ISA Racing.

The Brise family have a rich pedigree and history in UK Motorsport, Tim Brise is a former Racing and Rally driver who continues to compete today in Historic Championships. Tim, along with his colleague Mark Edser are very knowledgeable in the design and modification of automotive rotating electrics. Tim and Mark will be joining Carwood as part of the agreement and will be based in Yeovil from April 1st

Carwood Chairman Gary Carter commented, “this is an exciting venture for our Company, Brise has great synergy with our Yeovil business and we all look forward to the growing of motorsport sales over the coming years”.

Loyalty is certainly not a thing of the past, not if Dave Stacey of Carwood Yeovil is any kind of benchmark

Up until February 12th 2019, Dave had worked at the same place in Yeovil since 1957, his job consisted of rewinding and refurbishing electric motors and generators, a skill he learned on a five-year apprenticeship nearly 70 years ago. Now he has hung up his overalls and will be doing more of what he loves, spending time with his wife and enjoying the pleasures of fly-fishing.

Dave commented, “I’ve seen a lot of changes to the industry, for example we’re in the throwaway age, it is cheaper to buy new rather than to refurbish, so that has changed the business a lot and we’ve had to adapt. Leaving never occurred to me for 62 years, I was happy and the company seemed happy. I’ve always been happy with my job”. He concluded by saying, “Carwood is a great company, the Management and the Directors have been exceptional to me.”

Dave’s modest words show more appreciation to his line of work than his own achievements and the statement from Carwood highlights his humility and valuable work he has done in developing younger employees.

Steve Holden, Carwood Yeovil Branch Manager, said: “The biggest compliment we can pay Dave is that he’s like your own grandad, helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and just an all-round nice chap”. Steve goes on “How many other people have the experience that Dave has? The trade has seen many changes over the years and Dave has seen them all, but beyond that, his training of the next generation of apprentices has been equally as important to the business”.

Steve finishes with a heartfelt comment, “All at Carwood wish Dave a long and happy retirement, from the Board of Directors through to the staff at Yeovil and all other locations worldwide. It’s been an absolute pleasure to have worked with Dave.”

BMW is sticking by diesel engines despite industry trends going against this, BMW has stated that it believes that the fuel type still has a future. Klaus Froehlich, who is a board member for development announced that BMW is committed to diesel cars while speaking at the Paris Motor Show. He stated that there has been ‘dramatic’ progression in the powertrains and said he believes they have the ‘best’ diesels in the world.

Diesel engine powered cars have been under immense scrutiny since the VW “dieselgate” scandal was uncovered in 2015. Since then a number of carmakers have ditched diesel engines from their line-ups, there is now more of a focus on electrification and pushing people away from diesel into petrol, hybrid, and battery-electric cars.

Klaus Froehlich said, “We have a spiral in Europe where every politician sees only one solution – diesel bashing, from a reduction in CO2 levels and customer perspective, a modern diesel car is a very good solution”.

Carwood Chairman Gary Carter commented, “ This is excellent news and fully endorses what we have been saying for a long time, it is the easy option to bash diesels without taking the time to recognise the advances that have been made in diesel technology”.

Despite the ongoing negative publicity surrounding Diesel engine cars, the reality is the aftermarket is continuing to grow for the following reasons.

Firstly, there are around 30* million cars on the road (*SMMT Ltd), of which over 12 million are diesel, the vast majority of these will be around for many years to come.

Secondly, the peak in diesel car registrations was in 2016 with 1.285m recorded (SMMT Ltd), these vehicles will require injector/pump service or replacement from 2021 onwards. This together with the 2015 registrations of 1.276m (SMMT Ltd) provides an aftermarket opportunity of over 2.5m diesel cars alone.

Thirdly, many people are now realising that a diesel car is still the best option for them, particularly if they are driving high mileage. All diesel cars since 2015 are Euro 6 compliant, that means they meet European emissions legislation and will be exempt from the London emission charges planned for 2019 and have lower CO2 emissions than petrol engines.

Clearly there are many reasons to be positive as we continue to increase our share of the 4 million LCV’s on the roads, the 500,000 trucks and 70,000 Passenger Service vehicles, all powered by diesel engines.

Nonetheless, we are not just sitting back expecting our share of this long-term market, we are actively moving into new channel strategy’s and to that end we have recently been awarded supply contracts with Delphi and Ford Motor Company. This helps us to increase our share of “the cake”.

We believe the diesel engine has a key role to play in the future well-being of the UK economy and we look forward to being the aftermarket leader in diesel engine vehicles for many years to come.

Emissions from Petrol Vehicles Emissions from petrol cars have been dramatically reduced by the introduction of catalytic converters, which oxidise pollutants such as CO to less harmful gases such as CO2. When compared to petrol cars without catalysts, catalyst cars have much lower CO, HC and NOx emissions, at the expense of CO2 emissions, which increase due to the oxidation of carbon monoxide to CO2. As a consequence of this, a catalyst car will also use slightly more fuel and become less efficient. However, despite these improvements, petrol cars with catalysts still produce more CO and HC than diesel cars, although exhaust emissions of NOx and particulates are much lower than diesel cars. In fact particulate emissions from petrol cars are so low that they are not routinely measured.

Emissions from Diesel Vehicles Diesel fuel contains more energy per litre than petrol and coupled with the fact that diesel engines are more efficient than petrol engines, diesel cars are more efficient to run. Diesel fuel contains no lead and emissions of the regulated pollutants (carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides) are lower than those from petrol cars without a catalyst. However, when compared to petrol cars with a catalyst, diesels have higher emissions of NOx and much higher emissions of particulate matter.

Cold Start Emissions from cars are greatest when an engine is cold. On a cold day a petrol car may take up to 10km to warm up and operate at maximum efficiency; a diesel car may only take 5km. Consequently, diesel cars produce less unburned fuel during a cold start, which will result in lower emissions of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Diesel cars could make a significant impact on air quality in urban areas where most cold starts occur, especially when it is considered that a catalyst on a petrol car would take several minutes to reach its operating temperature. Overall, diesel cars emit less hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and lead pollution than petrol cars, but produce more noxious gases and significantly more particulates.

Despite much debate over which car, petrol or diesel, is cleaner, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages is not easy. For example, diesel cars have been promoted, as they produce less CO and HC on average when compared to petrol cars, and they have greater fuel economy producing less CO2 per km. However recent health concerns about particulate matter have given diesels a less environmentally-friendly image, as have the higher emissions of nitrogen oxides compared with petrol cars. As a comparison, petrol cars produce virtually no particulate matter, take longer to warm up, produce more carbon dioxide per mile on average, and emissions of the regulated pollutants are higher.

Cleaner Petrol and Diesel A method of pollution reduction currently being utilised involves the use of cleaner petrol and diesel. It is cheaper to improve conventional fuels than to use many of the alternatives and no investment is needed for new storage tanks and service stations. Ultra-low sulphur petrol is now widely available in the UK. City Diesel City diesel is a petroleum based lower emission diesel developed in Sweden but now available in many European Countries including the UK. Exhaust emissions from vehicles fuelled with city diesel compare favourably with exhaust emissions from equivalent vehicles fuelled with conventional diesel. The main benefit of city diesel is that its combustion reduces particulate emissions by 34 – 84% depending on engine type, duty cycle, test basis and type of particulate measured. An additional benefit of city diesel is that it is a low sulphur fuel, which is necessary for the optimum running of oxidation catalytic converters.

Conclusion

To produce a cleaner environment for all to live and work in, the development of alternative, cleaner fuels is essential. To encourage the use of the fuels, competitive prices combined with good marketing techniques are required.

Unknown to many, Carwood have been remanufacturing turbochargers for decades. Customers include a number of globally recognised vehicle and engine manufacturers as well as the Ministry of Defence, Army and Navy.

Turbochargers have always been the norm on commercial vehicle and heavy duty diesel engines. Carwood have been remanufacturing them for many years for specialised contracts and defence applications. With the ever increasing population of common rail diesel vehicles on the road the demand for passenger car turbochargers has grown and we have turned our expertise to producing an extensive off the shelf range of top quality remanufactured diesel car turbochargers.

Carwood Ollerton is a specially designed factory with the latest equipment and facilities to produce turbochargers to the highest standards. Units are available for immediate delivery off the shelf or the customers own turbo can be remanufactured if it is a rare or unavailable item. Click here to access more information on Carwood Turbochargers.