Former MG Rover supplier Cobra Automotive UK has won nearly £7 million of new orders in eight hours, including the biggest contract in its history, according to the Birmingham Post.
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The paper said Shrewsbury-based Cobra, which manufactures interior trim and safety components, lost 60% of its manufacturing business when MG Rover collapsed last year and was forced to put its staff on part-time work and move to a potato storage warehouse.
It also diversified into making milking nozzles for the dairy industry and a special mobile rig for the Dyslexia Association.
But the paper said it now secured a GBP5m order from Volvo which will quadruple the size of the business and has the potential to create around 28 highly-skilled jobs in the process.
Within the space of eight hours recently, Cobra received four phone calls, which resulted in the Volvo deal as well as another £1.75m of new orders from Ford’s plant in Genk, IAC Interiors and CNH Tractors to produce built-in sun visors, the Birmingham Post said.
The paper said the Volvo deal, which will last for five years, has seen the company become the Swedish car producer’s newest tier one supplier and will see the firm design, develop and manufacture innovative load safety netting for a new SUV model.
The report said Cobra was hopeful of winning business from other Ford Premier Automotive Group automakers such as Land Rover, Aston Martin and Jaguar.
The Birmingham Post said Cobra’s success could be directly attributed to a £28,000 new product development grant awarded by Accelerate and the MG Rover Taskforce. It is soon to move to new premises.
