South Australian advanced manufacturer Supashock today announced it has reached agreement with Rheinmetall Defence for the German technology and security group to take an equity holding in the company under a co-operative partnership.
Supashock Managing Director Oscar Fiorinotto said Rheinmetall would take a 49 per cent stake in his company under an agreement signed in Adelaide yesterday with Ben Hudson, a member of the Rheinmetall Defence Executive Board and Global Head of Vehicle Systems.
Supashock designs, develops and manufactures state of the art active shock absorbers for motorsport and heavy mining applications to improve safety, ride quality and loading operations. The company has 25 employees at its Adelaide facilities.
“This agreement creates a platform for Supashock to export its advanced suspension technology globally,” said Mr Fiorinotto, the company’s owner and founder.
“It also opens up a massive opportunity to expand its array of products into military vehicles where we know we can bring significant solutions across safety, mobility and to defence to the Australian Defence Force.”
Supashock is already working with Rheinmetall to develop and manufacture of active suspension and integrated intelligent load handling system for Rheinmetall’s range of military trucks.
Mr Fiorinotto said the partnership with Rheinmetall would underpin the Supashock’s future growth and create high technology, enduring jobs in the automotive sector that will deliver performance improvements to our customers and real benefits to the Australian economy.
“Our focus is shifting from an extensive product development phase to the start of an accelerated growth phase and we welcome Rheinmetall as a partner that can enable access to international markets and provide funding to drive this growth,” Mr Fiorinotto said.
Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles – the largest supplier of military vehicles to the Australian Defence Force and a joint venture between Rheinmetall and MAN Trucks – has funded Supashock to develop a system for the Australian and global markets which integrates Supashock’s novel active suspension technology with an intelligent load handling system and will substantially increase the capability and safety of RMMV’s military trucks in demanding on and off-road environments.
Through comparative testing, Supashock’s suspension technology has been shown to substantially improve the mobility of RMMV’s trucks, while at the same time enhancing on-road safety and reducing the shock and vibration experienced by the load the truck is carrying.
