Carbon Revolution attracts top global automotive directors

By Peter Roberts

Carbon fibre road wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution has attracted a swag of leading automotive figures to join its executive team as the company moves towards a US stock exchange listing for its shares.

The Geelong, Victoria company announced four US based senior automotive executives including:

• Bob Lutz, former General Motors Vice Chairman
• Burt Jordan, former Vice President of Global Purchasing Operations and Supply Chain Sustainability at Ford Motor Company
• Jacqueline A. Dedo, co-founder of Aware Mobility LLC
• And Matti Masanovich, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of pharmaceutical supplier Catalent.

Lutz is particularly well known and regarded, having served as a top executive of all of the United States Big Three automobile manufacturers.

He has been executive vice president and board member of Ford Motor Company, president and then vice chairman and board member of Chrysler Corporation, and vice chairman of General Motors.

The naming of the extraordinarily powerful group of board members comes as Carbon Revolution entered into a Structured Equity Facility of up to US$110 million with investment firm Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC) to recapitalise the business.

The company stumbled during the Covid-19 pandemic when its sales momentum was hit by automotive sector slowdowns at the same time as it was spending close to $100 million to build its first large-scale production line (pictured) in Geelong.

The financial injection supports Carbon Revolution in continuing to progress a business combination with Twin Ridge Capital Acquisition Corp. which is expected to be completed in October 2023.

The four new directors will join the Carbon Revolution plc when it relists in the United States, and are sure to drive the company’s sales which have to date been confined to extreme luxury and sports vehicles.

Carbon Revolution continues to experience strong growth and demand for its carbon fibre wheels and recently announced that it has been awarded five additional programmes this year, including its first two for electric vehicles (EVs).

This takes the total awarded to 18 programmes with six global OEMs including Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Renault, Ferrari N.V. and Jaguar Land Rover.

The Company’s order backlog has more than doubled since October 2022 to $680 million, due primarily to new programme awards, with almost 50 percent of the backlog for EVs.

Carbon Revolution wheels are lighter and stronger than cast aluminium wheels, with weight savings particularly important to EVs.

Picture: Carbon Revolution