Manoli Katakis 
As if Canada’s Multimatic didn’t demonstrate their prowess by supplying Formula One with various parts, or offering some of the most sophisticated suspension technology on the market, they’ve gone and built a supercar. And then built a race car version of it. And then a track-only too-fast-for-racing version of that. We’re talking of course of the Ford GT. But what happens to Multimatic after the last hand-built Ford GT rolls out of its Markham, Ontario facility? An announcement today gives the world a clue as to what could be next for Multimatic.
The company aims to continue building other low-volume, high-priced vehicles beyond the Ford GT thanks to the formation of a Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations group. The division will be led by racing engineer Larry Holt, the division will be responsible for all vehicle engineering developments, motorsports engineering ventures, and race team operations. Within the responsibilities of the group will also be low-volume chassis, carbon-fiber component production, and niche parts assembly.
Meanwhile, the Multimatic Engineering Group will be overseen by former Ford and Jaguar Land Rover executive Jim Holland. This group will handle the company’s more essential parts of the business, such as high-volume deals and technology contracts.
“Multimatic’s model has always been to break the growing businesses down into smaller, more agile operations, and so it has become time for engineering,” quoted Holt in a press release. “After 32 years of continued growth the size and diversity was becoming limiting. High volume component and systems engineering ultimately requires a different approach to the development of an entire low volume vehicle and so the management of those types of projects has now been split. However, as in the past, engineering resource will be shared as it makes no sense to try and duplicate functions like the best predictive methods organization in the industry; simulation will stay with the engineering group and continue to grow in size and capability.”
As for what sort of supercar rolls out of Multimatic’s doors after the Ford GT, that remains a tightly guarded secret. For now.
