- Horse Powertrain opens new casting facility at its plant in Curitiba, Brazil
- Facility can cast 210,000 aluminum cylinder heads per annum
- Investment of $R200mn (~€35mn) localizes production of cylinder heads for HORSE H10 and HORSE H13 engines assembled at Curitiba
Horse Powertrain, a global leader in innovative and low-emission powertrain systems, has opened its new casting facility for engine cylinder heads in Curitiba, Brazil.
The new facility represents an investment of $R200mn (~€35mn) into Horse Powertrain’s production footprint in Brazil.
The new casting facility has an annual production capacity of 210,000 cylinder heads, intended for use in the plant’s output of turbocharged, gasoline-ethanol flex fuel engines: the 1.0-liter HORSE H10, and the 1.3-liter HORSE H13.
The HORSE H10 and HORSE H13 engines produced at Curitiba are intended for use across the Brazilian and South American passenger vehicle markets. Their delta-shaped cylinder heads play a key role in ensuring the engine is low-mass, reducing the engine’s center of gravity, and improving thermal management.
The new facility incorporates Horse Powertrain’s first global use of a gravity casting process. In contrast to low-pressure or high-pressure injection processes, which are also currently employed at Curitiba, gravity casting relies solely on the downward flow of molten aluminum to cast cylinder heads. The smoother inflow of aluminum from this process ensures a more consistent spread of material with fewer air pockets, which increases the strength and durability of the cylinder head.
To efficiently scale up the new casting capability, Horse Powertrain’s Curitiba team has developed a fully integrated aluminum melting and transportation process from furnace-to-mold. This minimizes the amount of heat and metal wasted during casting, and maximizes the service life of molds.
As a result, Curitiba’s new process reduces embedded CO2 emissions per cylinder head by 35%, compared to existing injection casting processes. This new process joins other measures by the Curitiba team to minimize their environmental impact, such as the plant’s commitment to use 98% recycled aluminum and its zero-landfill certification.
Matias Giannini, Chief Executive Officer of Horse Powertrain, said: “Our new gravity casting facility marks an important milestone in the history of our operations in Brazil. Horse Powertrain’s Brazilian plant is recognized across South America for the quality of its products, and its leadership in delivering state-of-the-art powertrains that use gasoline-ethanol flex fuels. This new investment signals how important we consider Curitiba, Brazil, and South America to our company’s future through localizing production of key components that are specially adapted to the needs of regional automakers.”
First announced in September 2024, the investment in the new casting facility was accompanied by a $R100mn investment to expand Curitiba’s production capacity for HORSE H13 engines.
The opening ceremony for the new casting facility was attended by Matias Giannini, CEO of Horse Powertrain, along with company executives and government officials.