Texans snap up ATL and its Pinzgauers
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ONE OF BRITAIN'S truck manufacturing success stories, Automotive Technik (ATL), has been acquired by the American Stewart & Stevenson company.
The Texas-based group paid £25m, mostly as a lump sum with a small amount deferred to guarantee contractual and warranty issues. It had been invited to bid by ATL's venture capital providers.
ATL produces the successful Pinzgauer range of military 4x4 and 6x6 light utility vehicles, which have recently been joined by the X-M (extended mobility) and armoured 6x6 variants. ATL has a workforce of 160; all of them, including the senior management team, will be staying on under the new management.
Pinzgauer was formerly owned by Austrian manufacturer Steyr. ATL acquired the rights in 2000 and has been assembling some 450 vehicles a year in a 2,000m" factory in Guildford. It has a full order book from the UK and New Zealand armed forces with sales worth some £42m this year.
S&S has a contract for the "reset", or refurbishment, of military vehicles returning from Iraq. With plenty of scope for expansion of the Guildford operation, one option which S&S boss Denny Dellinger hasn't ruled out is those vehicles that are returning to American bases in Germany may pass through Surrey.