Premcar began its life as Tickford, working closely with Ford to develop its high-performance cars. When Ford moved manufacturing offshore, you might think that was the end of Premcar – but you would be wrong.
To this day Premcar remains a go-to partner for global car manufacturers – the company currently assembles the premium Nissan Navara Warrior and Nissan Patrol Warrior at its site in Epping.
Manufacturers’ Monthly got the opportunity to tour the facility and speak with engineering director Bernie Quinn, who explained how Premcar works with major car manufacturers and defence companies alike.
“Car manufacturers come to us as they often have special needs which they cannot meet with their own resources,” he explained.
“It is not simply that we have technical capabilities beyond theirs, it’s because we have the ability to meet a specific niche or a quick change in the market.
“These manufacturers look so far into the future when planning, it can be hard to quickly pivot and adjust to market demands as they arise,” Quinn explained.
An example of this was when Nissan turned to Premcar as the high-end ute market began to explode in Australia. Ford had launched the Wildtrack, Toyota the Hilux Rugged X, and Nissan knew they needed to find something that would meet this market demand and quickly.
“The dual cab ute market is the fastest growing in Australia and Nissan did not have a player in that space,” Quinn said. “They came to us because they knew this was something we could assist with.
“It was important they partnered with a company that matched the quality their Japanese engineers expect, so for them to come to us was a major show of confidence in our engineers.
“We then delivered the Navara Warrior and it allowed Nissan to swiftly enter the Australian market with a high quality 4×4 dual-cab ute that met its strict standards,” Quinn said.
History
The Premcar journey starts with the 1996 launch of the Tickford-enhanced EL-based Ford Falcon GT. The 220 kW TS50, TE50 and TL50 were released in 1998. In 2001, the Ford Mustang was launched in Australia thanks to a full right-hand drive conversion program by Tickford.
The Ford Broadmedows plant was building 100,000 Falcons in 1996 and unable to meet any greater output needs. Tickford was able to fill this gap by delivering LPG conversions, sports models, police packs and anything outside the norm.
Prodrive bought Tickford Vehicle Engineering in 2001 and the Australian operation became Prodrive Automotive Technology Australia (PATA) and established Ford Performance Vehicles in a joint venture with Ford Australia.
A change in Australian ownership saw Prodrive Automotive Technology Australia become Premcar in 2012. By then the Ford Broadmedows plant had reduced to 20,000 cars and it was time for Premcar to begin to diversify.
In 2015 Premcar co-developed its first cutting-edge helicopter for a major corporation and Premcar began its extensive defence industry work.
Leading global automotive engineering firm RLE International joined Premcar in 2017.
Based in Germany and with facilities throughout the UK, Europe, the US, China and India, RLE
International established its Australian operations with Premcar, giving Premcar access to its vast global new-vehicle engineering and car-making resources, as well as its 2300-strong team.
In 2019 global carmaker Nissan chose Premcar to develop and build a new range-leading version of its award-winning Navara ute model in Australia. Launched in 2019, the Navara N-TREK Warrior by Premcar quickly became popular with Australian buyers.
Its successor, the Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior by Premcar, was launched to similar acclaim in 2021. It was quickly joined by the Navara SL Warrior by Premcar in 2022, along with news by Nissan it would expand its Premcar-enhanced Warrior program to its Patrol SUV range.
Manufacturing process
Premcar has recently moved into its new facility around the corner from its original site in Epping where it has secure prototype workshops.
The organisation has secondary manufacturing certification and capabilities, which means it can test, develop, and manufacture a vehicle that meets Australian design rules and standards. This is Premcar’s point of difference when compared to aftermarket fitters.
“We take everything that the aftermarket companies do and make into a seamless and consistent integrated process,” Quinn said.
“We utilise our international group to get access to over 2000 employees and use the global reach for our CAD files and the expertise of other sectors.”
Premcar leans on its colleagues globally to meet needs it may not have in Australia or outsource specific time-consuming processes.
The production line works similarly to a classic vehicle production line but that is where Premcar takes the simple concept and turns it into an even better process.
The car rolls along the production line and stops at each station where the team fits the parts, each station fits the same part to every car that comes out of the Premcar factory.
“Each station has the specific tools they need to fit the parts to each car with the highest quality,” Quinn explained.
“Our intellectual property is the manufacturing engineering and not the equipment itself, we need to be able to react quickly and the best way for us to do that is with the right people as opposed to automated equipment,” he said.
The company works diligently to speed up its manufacturing process: the Navara is well honed and it is currently improving the Patrol process to match the Navara.
Premcar utilises a number of processes when bringing new staff on board to ensure they meet the standards and expectations of the company. New staff get a full induction, and they go through certifications and then complete onsite training like basic handling and manufacturing processes.
Taking a basic Nissan and turning it into the high-quality vehicles delivered by Premcar means parts are taken off to be replaced by high quality developed-for-Australia components. These parts could be destined for landfill if not correctly recycled.
“One thing we do is harvest all of the hydraulic fluid out of the Patrol’s HBMC system, we save it and then re-use it,” Quinn explained.
“A lot of the metal and rims are sent off to be melted down and re-used as well. By doing this we ensure we are meeting our environmental needs.”
Learning
Quinn went on to detail how Premcar understands that utilising the global network at its disposal allows it to be far more competitive than it may otherwise be.
“We like to think we can do everything, but we can’t, so we turn to our colleagues to help us when needed,” he said.
“If we need software development we will turn to the UK as they are experts in that and people will turn to us as we are experts in chassis design, it helps us to all deliver high quality products.”
Premcar will complete a range of discrete engineering projects that may or may not lead to manufacturing, but Quinn believes either way is a positive for the company.
“We completed a project to help develop the 35-inch rim that goes on the Ford Bronco,” he said.
“We have been working on electrification projects as well, learning those skills as the electric market is set to explode in Australia soon.”
These smaller opportunities allow Premcar to hone its skills so when a company like Nissan turns to it, the process is simple, and the company is prepared for any challenge that may come its way.
Diversifying
Long before the final Ford rolled off the Broadmedows production line, Premcar was considering ways of diversifying and not simply relying on automotive manufacturing in Australia as Quinn detailed.
“I lived in China with my family for four months as we identified it as the fastest growing market and had large potential for us,” Quinn said.
“We began discussions with a range of Chinese manufacturers and we decided we needed to branch out from automotive.
“Defence was an area we knew our skills would be well suited to. We won some contracts to move into that space and completed a helicopter design for a Japanese OEM,” he explained.
For Premcar it was confident it would have a resurgence in the automotive space, but it needed to find ways to survive until it could re-enter that market in a larger way.
These projects were pathways back into Australia’s new car manufacturing industry.
“Australia might be a small market in total volume, but it has very specific demands from its motor vehicles,” Quinn explained.
“You look at regions like the Pilbara, mining companies need to begin considering ESG needs far before car manufacturers will meet their needs. We can utilise our skills to quickly meet those and deliver electric vehicles that have the range for the region.
“We don’t need to build frames and other components, we can order those from overseas, but we can manufacture batteries and electric motor engines to the quality we need and that is how Australia can reignite its automotive manufacturing,” he said.
Quinn and Premcar are bullish about the future of car manufacturing in Australia and expect companies like Premcar to have a critical role in the roll out of electric vehicles.
Promoting Premcar to the global market
Premcar has succeeded throughout its history marketing itself to some of the largest car manufacturers globally. An understanding of the differences a manufacturer like Ford owned by an American company compared to Nissan and Toyota, both based out of Japan has been critical to its success and demonstrate the trust these manufacturers have.
“A Japanese OEM like Nissan is conservative by nature so for them to put faith in a smaller Australian operation to re-enginner and secondary-manufacture their vehicles was a feather in our cap,” Quinn explained.
“It has been very fruitful for them, and we have continued our relationship and we are about to launch the Patrol Warrior to expand the highly successful Warrior model range.
“It is all about extending the life of these vehicles and extending the revenue opportunities. All of the cars we have developed are well regarded,” he said.
Quinn went on to explain that each manufacturer has different expectations when it comes to oversight of the process. Premcar understands what the company is looking for and ensures its processes meets those needs.
The ability to collaborate and quickly adjust to meet the needs of each OEM allows Premcar the opportunity to work with some of the largest manufacturers in both automotive and defence.
AMGC project
Premcar recently completed a project with the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre which allowed the company to diversify its manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of Australia.
This project will allow Premcar to solve the problem of not having export-ready versions of land-based military vehicles. This project will mean that such vehicles will be optimised to access export markets and meet ADF requirements. Additionally, Premcar’s capabilities will be expanded to be appropriate for a number of different land-based military vehicles.
This project will include the installation of a latest-technology powertrain into an existing vehicle, thereby making the vehicle suitable and ready to capture an export opportunity.
These items will be developed and manufactured in Australia and complement the Cummins engine imported from Cummins US. By delivering this engineering program, Premcar will develop sovereign engineering and manufacturing capabilities to support land based military vehicle development and production in Australia.
Premcar will add sovereign capability in the area of defence vehicle powertrain engineering to existing product development and manufacturing capabilities, incorporating the unique requirements presented by vehicles for military application. By doing so, Premcar will be the only Australian-based organisation with this comprehensive suite of skills.
Managing Director of the AMGC, Dr Jens Goennemann was in attendance at Premcar’s site and explained what the organisation looks for when partnering with manufacturers.
“What Australia needs to do is better not cheaper, we can never make big numbers here, so we need to produce at a higher quality,” Goennemann said.
“We like to work with companies like Premcar as it helps correct the perception in Australia, we currently have more automotive jobs than we did just before Holden closed down.”
Goennemann explained that the misconception is Australia does not manufacture cars any more. The reality is that Australia rarely manufactured cars, they simply assembled them.
“Once we stopped trying to assemble cars, we realised it was better for us to do the high value more complex parts that are more competitive globally,” he said.
“When we look at who we partner with, we want competent companies that can bring other manufacturers along with them.
“We can push the tax dollars further by touching many companies through Premcar, they put their money where their mouth is and that is exactly what we want,” Goennemann said.
For Premcar working alongside the AMGC gave them access to an industry advisor who would walk along the process with them to ensure they were meeting the criteria laid out.
The project facilitator would touch base around the six or seven milestones to evaluate the work. This allows the company to ensure it reaches its goals at the end of the project.
Quinn explained Premcar’s success and how the company will look to continue this well into the future.
“Our skills are integration, whether it be the Navara or Patrol and now into defence is what makes us a success,” he said.
“Defence vehicles are incredibly complex, you cannot just take out a motor and plonk another one in, you must integrate all of these systems.
“We have brought in knowledge and expertise from the AMGC to improve our defence understanding and ensure that our skills are transferred across successfully and ensure we continue growing.”