Ricardo to Develop Fuel Efficient Vehicle for U.S. Army

VAN BUREN TWP., Mich., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricardo, Inc., the US
subsidiary of Ricardo plc, the leading independent provider of technology,
product innovation and engineering solutions to the world's automotive,
defense, transport and new energy industries, has been awarded a contract for
the development of a new vehicle under the Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle
Demonstrator (FED) program launched by TARDEC, the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive
Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Michigan.

The FED program, launched in late 2008, has the overarching goals of improving
military vehicle technology, reducing fuel consumption on the battlefield, and
reducing the nation's dependence on oil. Ricardo will apply its expertise in
the development and manufacture of special vehicles and advanced automotive
technology to create a demonstration vehicle that maximizes fuel economy while
maintaining the capability and performance of light tactical wheeled vehicles.

"The FED project leverages Ricardo's experience and success in supporting the
development of a broad range of military vehicles over several years," said
Paul Luskin, Ricardo's chief program engineer for FED and vehicle engineering
manager. "In particular, TARDEC has recognized Ricardo's role on the Future
Tactical Truck System (FTTS), in which we successfully implemented advanced
technology into an innovative vehicle architecture."

The new contract award is for the second phase of the program, focusing on the
detailed design of a demonstration vehicle. It builds upon the initial phase
in which Ricardo applied its Total Vehicle Fuel Economy (TVFE(TM)) systems
engineering expertise to evaluate current and emerging technologies that can
improve fuel efficiency over the entire vehicle. TVFE focuses on evaluating
all vehicle systems to optimize fuel economy and performance. Ricardo's TVFE
modeling and simulation capabilities were used to predict the performance of
thousands of combinations of requirements, technologies and architectures. The
effort drew upon the company's full range of automotive systems expertise
including compression-ignition engines, hybrid propulsion, transmission and
driveline systems, controls and electronics, thermal management, chassis,
suspension and structures. Simulation results and innovative systems
engineering methodologies were used to develop vehicle concepts for
demonstration. Technologies were selected for both their potential both for
immediate implementation into the existing fleets of military vehicles, and
for improvement of the next generation of vehicles under development.

The FED program will involve close cooperation between Ricardo and TARDEC, as
Luskin explains: "Our objectives include not only training embedded government
engineers in order to enhance TARDEC's vehicle engineering capability, but
also educating government staff on the issues relating to fuel economy,
including implementation of technology and trade-offs in performance
requirements." The project will ultimately produce a demonstration vehicle for
testing at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Commenting on this key contract award, Louis Infante, Ricardo's Vehicle
Product Group Director said: "We are extremely pleased to be able to continue
supporting TARDEC in its objective to increase the fuel efficiency of its
vehicle fleets. The FED project represents an ideal application of Ricardo's
expertise in armored vehicle design and fuel efficiency improvements using our
Total Vehicle Fuel Economy processes. We look forward to working with the
government in developing a vehicle that will represent a large step forward in
reducing life-cycle cost."

About Ricardo
Ricardo, the Eco-Innovation Technology Company, is a leading independent
provider of technology, product innovation, engineering solutions and
strategic consulting to the world's automotive, military, transport and new
energy industries. The company's skill base represents the state-of-the-art in
low emissions and fuel-efficient powertrain technology, and can be best
summarized: "Ricardo is Fuel Economy." Ricardo offers TVFE(TM), its Total
Vehicle Fuel Economy engineering service, to transportation manufacturers and
related government agencies worldwide to provide objective evaluation of all
available technologies to identify the most cost-effective strategies to
accomplish fuel economy and CO(2) goals.

With technical centers and offices throughout Europe, the U.S. and Asia,
Ricardo provides engineering expertise ranging from vehicle systems
integration, controls & electronics, hardware and software development, to the
latest driveline and transmission systems and gasoline, diesel, hybrid and
fuel cell powertrain technologies. Ricardo's customers include the world's
major automakers and suppliers as well as manufacturers in the military,
commercial, off-highway and clean energy sectors. The company also serves in
advisory roles to governmental and independent agencies. Ricardo's U.S.
operation, Ricardo, Inc., is headquartered in Van Buren Township, Michigan.
Ricardo plc posted sales of $296.6 million in financial year 2009 and is a
constituent of the FTSE TechMark 100 index - a group of innovative technology
companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit
www.ricardo.com.

SOURCE Ricardo, Inc.

Jim Cain of The Quell Group, +1-248-649-8900, jcain@quell.com, or Anthony
Smith of Ricardo Media Office, +44 1273 382710, media@ricardo.com