Premcar turns 30 in 2026. To celebrate, we’re sharing some of our carmaking knowledge. This time, it’s about the importance of margins.
Passenger airliners usually operate well below their performance potential during standard operation.
Big farm tractors are similar. They typically produce huge torque at low engine speeds so they can work long hours without being ‘over-stressed’.
New cars, on the other hand, specifically high-performance models, can be quite different.
Quite often, the temptation to offer class-leading power or the lowest Nürburgring lap time can edge a brand towards offering a car’s ‘available performance’.
That’s an understandable temptation, but it brings an important reminder in carmaking.
If you design and manufacture critical systems to operate ‘at the edge’ of their available performance (without fully considering factors like repeatable reliability and the need for new-car warranties), then you invite some unwanted scenarios.
For example, overly high compression ratios in petrol engines and reinforced lightweight chassis structures to cope with racetrack loads can sometimes leave little margin for reliable performance.
The type of car that invites maximum engine revs and kerb-hopping racetrack driving needs calculated margins of space to ensure critical parts like static suspension structures, fast-moving engine parts and load-carrying components that suffer from heat and vibration don’t become loaded incorrectly.
This might sound obvious, but it happens.
It’s relatively straightforward to create powerful and fast vehicles in the image of a racing car.
But the deeper work is making them deliver reliable, durable, safe and repeatable performance. This takes time and experience.
It partly explains why ‘highly strung’ sports cars like the Porsche 911 GT3 come from gradual technical evolution over many years.
Margins are critical in volume carmaking, and it’s why powertrains, suspension systems and so forth don’t ‘go to the edge’ of what they’re capable of.
Margins are critical. Always create calculated buffers.
Bernie Quinn, CEO of Premcar
About Premcar:
Premcar Pty Ltd is a leading Australian vehicle engineering business that specialises in the automotive, defence and aerospace industries. For 30 years, global car-makers have made Premcar their go-to partner for the complete design, engineering and manufacture of niche-model new cars, full-scale new-vehicle development programs, and electric vehicle (EV) conversions and manufacturing. Premcar’s body of work is extensive. It is the name behind more than 213,000 new cars and 55,000 new-vehicle engines. The company has delivered technical advancements and sales success for major car brands from Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Australia. Visit premcar.au.
