HORSE invests €32.8 million in energy-efficient cylinder head casting

HORSE, a leader in innovative and low emissions powertrain systems, will invest in a new state-of-the-art production line to cast aluminium engine cylinder heads at its Curitiba plant in Brazil.

This new facility will use a tilting gravity casting process to produce aluminium cylinder heads for the company’s 1.0-litre and 1.3-litre flex fuel engines.

Forecast to cast 210,000 cylinder heads annually, HORSE will invest €26.3 million in the new automated production line, creating 60 new permanent jobs by 2026. HORSE will also be investing another €6.5 million in the Curitiba plant’s testing and validation capabilities to correspond with the growth in production volume. The new line is planned to be fully operational by October 2026.

Antonio Vaz, Chief Process Engineering Officer at HORSE, said: “By investing over €30 million in cylinder head production at Curitiba, we’re further localising the supply chain for some of our most valuable engines for the South American market. This new line also pioneers some of the most energy-efficient casting methods in the industry, with zero waste to landfill. It signals our commitment to South America and to next-generation processes at scale.”

Pioneering new processes

Curitiba’s new line will be HORSE’s first worldwide to use gravity casting for cylinder production, a highly efficient process that delivers components with outstanding mechanical and material performance.

In combination with the use of sustainably sourced inorganic sand, the new line will produce zero waste for landfill – all production waste can be re-processed and recycled.

Powering next-generation engines

Curitiba’s new line will produce cylinder heads for HORSE’s HR10 and HR13 turbo petrol engines. Tailored to the unique needs of the South American market, both the 3-cylinder 1.0-litre ‘HR10’ and 4-cylinder 1.3-litre ‘HR13’ engines can be run on both gasoline and ethanol, supporting the widespread use of flex fuels in Latin America. HORSE plans to produce both engines domestically at its Curitiba plant by the end of 2024.

Both engines use a delta-shaped cylinder head to save mass and space, lower their centre of gravity, and improve thermal management of the engine. Exhaust manifolds are directly cast into the head for faster turbo response and exceptional low speed torque delivery.

This new investment will enable cylinder heads for both the HR10 and HR13 engines to be entirely domestically produced at the Curitiba plant, localising the supply chain for these engines. It follows a €16 million investment in November 2023 to produce the HR10 engine at Curitiba.

Wesley Palma, Operations Director at HORSE Curitiba, said: “This investment recognises Brazil’s ever-growing importance to HORSE and the global automotive industry. Building on our previous investments to produce the HR10 engine in Brazil, this new initiative will further localise production for both our HR10 and HR13 engines with domestically cast cylinder heads. This will help us streamline our supply chain and further reinforce Brazil’s role as a critical hub for automotive innovation.”

HORSE: a leader in automotive innovation

HORSE was created to provide highly efficient, low-emission engines, transmissions, and technologies to meet the varying power generation needs around the world. HORSE operates eight production plants across seven countries, three R&D centres and a head office based in Madrid, Spain – the company produces 3.2 million units per year for its customers around the world.