Premcar turns 30 in 2026. To celebrate, we’re sharing some of our carmaking knowledge. This time, it’s about engineering integration.
New-car enhancement programs make specific cars more appealing to specific buyers.
These product upgrades and changes can appear deceptively simple. Larger wheels in a different design and different suspension performance might appear to be straightforward changes but they’re not, especially when they’re part of an industrialised car production program.
The key point is this:
If you make these changes without correctly integrating them into the car, then you don’t know what will happen to the car over time after years of use.
It might be fine. It might not be.
Part of the engineering team’s role is to convert unknowns into knowns so you know what will happen, and this is where integration comes in.
Vehicle integration is when you combine the car’s various components and systems so they work together correctly – as designed – like a single unit.
This is not easy.
Take offroad wheels, for example.
Fitting larger wheels with larger, heavier tyres can add a lot of extra rotating mass. This can introduce new (and higher) forces through the suspension components, the steering components, their connections, their mounting points, and the areas surrounding these mounting points.
Will all of these elements cope with these new loads over time?
Correct engineering integration manages this answer.
This involves taking a considered systems approach to the design and specification, measuring the engineering bandwidth of the related components and systems that are known to be affected by these product changes.
I recall having a serious debate with a chassis expert from an OEM regarding the introduction of a new, larger wheel and tyre for his company’s off-road SUV. He insisted that the wheel and tyre we were proposing for the vehicle would be “worst-case” for loads into the chassis. He even stated “it’s physics”. I argued otherwise. With careful design and tuning, we were able to demonstrate, via measured forces, that the larger wheel and tyre and matched suspension component tuning, resulted in lower forces into surrounding chassis components. That success was achieved via proper integration of the wheel and tyre, not simply implementation…
And here’s the next important part:
The buyers you’re seeking to reach will typically want specific performance gains.
But how do you achieve safe performance gains without introducing new forces, vibrations, heat and other problems?
You safely manage the changes within the car’s engineering bandwidth, where necessary.
And no, I can’t share how we achieve this. It’s part of our protected knowledge bank.
Integration is possibly the most important invisible ingredient in any successful new car and successful new-car enhancement program.
Integration lets automakers express their brand identity via their products (think Ferrari and Porsche).
It makes EVs operate correctly as a single collection of digital systems.
And it also makes sure special product upgrades work like they are meant to be on the car, as if they were part of the car’s original development program many years earlier.
Integration makes new-car enhancement programs work.
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.
