Vehicle and OEM due diligence program

The clients challenge

Our client was evaluating whether to commence a business relationship with a vehicle OEM. The relationship would lead to further joint technological development, supply of vehicles to third parties and our clients brand being associated with these vehicles in the future.

They wanted to be sure that they were selecting the right partner. They also wanted to have full visibility of the development process that had resulted in the creation of the vehicle design and to discover if the design had been properly tested and validated. They needed to understand if the vehicle OEM had the organisational structure, resources and overall capability to deliver the planned joint development and to establish how they planned to execute the plan. Most importantly, our client wanted an independent assessment of the vehicle, how it performed in different situations, how easy it was to operate and to maintain and how well it was built.

Cytec’s solution

Cytec structured a comprehensive technical and organisational due diligence program incorporating the following:

• An audit of the OEM’s structure and evaluation of the key people within their team.
• A critical review of the vehicle design studying all key systems, assessing how and why they were selected and the performance thresholds they could operate to.
• Interrogation of the test and validation process to assess the robustness of the design and determine the technology readiness level.
• Audit of third-party certifications and sign-offs and an assessment of where others still needed to be conducted.
• A study of the assembly process and an assessment of the build philosophy.
• Review of the regular maintenance access points and assessment of how easy the vehicle was to maintain.
• We drove the vehicle at the test track over different terrains and obstacles and assessed operation of key systems.
• An evaluation of the OEM’s other forecasted business and assessment of their capacity to execute further development and produce vehicles in volume.
• At the end of the due diligence process we documented our findings and recommendations in a final report and presented them to the client.

Benefits to the client

Cytec’s team comprised of specialists on vehicle development and validation testing and the client was able to gain expert independent insight. They were able to clearly understand the level of technology readiness and identify areas of potential risk allowing them to mitigate and confidently protect their commercial interests.

Our team was deployed at extremely short notice and were able to execute the program, consolidate findings and prepare a detailed report on a comprehensive range of key subjects extremely quickly saving the client valuable time and allowing them to confidently make critical decisions.

The exercise was a vital gateway and enabled the business initiative to proceed expediently.