The Tanfield Group, formerly Comeleon, is a British company that manufactures automotive components and imaging equipment for electric vehicle manufacturing and specialist engineering.

History

The historic company Comeleon made 3D images for mobile phones and other devices. It was absorbed by the Tanfield Group in 2004, and has since expanded to include

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

s and

aerial work platform An aerial work platform (AWP), also an aerial device, aerial lift, boom lift, bucket truck, cherry picker, elevating work platform (EWP), mobile elevating work platform (MEWP), or scissor lift, is a mechanical device used to provide temporary ...

s. Tanfield Group Plc acquired

Smith Electric Vehicles Smith Electric Vehicles (also known as Smith's) was a manufacturer of electric trucks. The company, founded in 1920 in the north of England, moved its headquarters to Kansas City, Missouri in 2011. Smith suspended all operations in 2017. Smith ...

Smith Electric Vehicles, formed in England in 1920, was originally specialized in trolly busses under the name Northern Coachbuilders Ltd. which had also developed a plethora of vehicles including milk floats. in October 2004, for £2.2m and 1 million new ordinary shares. Tanfield immediately re-started R&D work to develop new electric delivery vehicles, including the Newton and Edison, and targeted a Europe-wide production. In October 2004, Tanfield Group had also acquired Aerial Access (cellular manufacturing solutions). In 2006, Tanfield acquired the powered access division (scissor lifts and booms) of UpRight International, along with its distribution and sales companies in Japan and the United States. On 28 June 2007, the company acquired Snorkel International as another division of its Aerial Work Platform (AWP) market share. Tanfield announced the formation of Smith Electric Vehicles US Corp (Smith US) in February 2009 and the company opened for business later that year. In March 2010 Smith US made a £37m conditional offer, equating to 50p per Tanfield share, plus a "free" share in Smith US if it subsequently undergoes an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

and joins the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

in the near future. In the USA, Tanfield started in 2019 a legal battle with Xtreme Manufacturing LLC over the ownership of Snorkel.

Subsidiaries

The group is made up of the following companies: * Aerial Access (since 2004) * Jumbotugs * Norquip * SEV Materials Handling *

(since 2004) * Snorkel International (since 2007) * UpRight Powered Access * Tanfield Engineering Systems Ltd

TX4E

London Taxis International Carbodies was a Hackney carriage, taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. In its latter years it also traded as London Taxis International and The London Taxi Company. It operated a coachbuilding business on Holyhe ...

, which manufactures the London black taxi in Coventry, has signed a development agreement with electric vehicle manufacturer Tanfield to develop an all-electric urban taxi. The all-electric version of the

TX4 The TX4 is a purpose-built taxicab (hackney carriage) manufactured by The London Taxi Corporation, The London Taxi Company, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile of China. From 2007 until their liquidation in 2013 it was manufactured by LTI Limited, ...

black cab - to be branded the TX4E - will have a top speed of and a range in excess of on one battery charge.

Controversy

On 3 July 2008 it was announced in the press that the London Stock Exchange was launching a probe after a collapse in the share price. The company was criticised by analysts for poor standards of disclosure and weak financial controls. The shares reached a high of 203.5p (valuing the Company at over £700 million) in July 2007 and fell to 5.53 pence (a value of £20 million). In April 2008, its annual results disappointed the City and raised questions about its disclosure standards and the high level of cash burn.: LSE launches probe after electric vehicle firm Tanfield sees shares collapse
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Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Automotive companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom