TMI AutoTech, exclusive North American manufacturer of the Ariel Atom vehicle, has successfully teamed with the Halifax Industrial Development Authority (IDA) for a Research & Development Grant. The $838,000 grant will be used to develop a new sports car which is distinctly different from the Ariel Atom and focused towards an international track day market.

"We are pleased that the Tobacco Commission awarded TMI AutoTech with this grant," stated Mark Swain, one of TMI's owners and its Vice President of Marketing. "Receiving the award is a vote of confidence in our project in addition to the regions capabilities."

"The 19 new advanced manufacturing jobs build on Halifax County's skilled workforce," says Matt Leonard, Halifax IDA's Executive Director. "Also, this project will utilize all of the other R&D assets already established in Halifax County, Virginia, through Tobacco Commission programs. Dr. Doug Corrigan, the Director of the IDA's Southern Virginia Product Advancement Center (SVPAC), worked closely with TMI to develop the grant request and shepherd it through to approval."

SVPAC is located in the Halifax IDA's Southern Virginia Technology Park (SVTP) and includes a Modeling and Simulation Center and Business Incubator. It is adjacent to the IDA's National Center for Coatings Application, Research & Education (C-CARE), which is a one-of-a-kind open source applied coatings laboratory.

"We believe there is no other single place in the country where a manufacturer can access these types of product development tools," says Dr. Corrigan. "Certainly, SVPAC, C-CARE and the R&D Centers in Halifax County, including the National Tire Research Center and Southern Virginia Motion Lab, offer a unique array of R&D assets to makers of vehicles."

"One of the cornerstones of the application is the establishment of a composites prototype lab in the C-CARE lab," says Mr. Swain. "We will make and finish composite panels for the Ariel Atom and our new Sportscar . Going forward we also plan to become an OEM of composite products for other manufacturers."

"We see great growth potential for TMI's composites initiative," says Mr. Leonard. "We'll continue to work with TMI to find ways to expand on this opportunity."

Dr. Corrigan agrees, "Carbon Fiber materials are an advanced material used widely in the Aerospace and high performance automotive industries. Halifax will become the first place in Virginia actively manufacturing these types of parts."

TMI expects to have the new sports racer designed and under production in less than one year.