FI Testimonials is an FI Group campaign featuring a series of interviews in which we delve into how we assist our clients in nurturing their ideas and share our customers’ perspectives on our services. Through their testimonials, we explore various companies from diverse sectors as they share their innovation projects, the challenges they face, and how collaboration with FI Group has helped them achieve their goals.
Our second video features Horse Aveiro, a key player in the innovation of hybrid and electric propulsion systems. We had a chat with their Production Director, Leonel Simões, who shared how FI Group has been a key partner in their transformation!
Read the full interview below.
What is Horse Aveiro?
I’m Leonel Simões, production director of the mechanical and hybrid components department at Horse Aveiro. I’m also the director of Test Bed The Smart Lab Aveiro.
Horse Aveiro, formerly Renault Cacia, is a HORSE Powertrain Limited Group company, a joint venture owned by the Renault Group, Geely and Aramco. Horse Aveiro specialises in the production of gearboxes and mechanical components for traditional internal combustion engines. More recently, it has started production of an electric motor and a power management module, Power Electronic Box, which also allows Horse Aveiro to enter the world of sustainable motorisation, through innovative hybrid technologies.
At this moment in time, Horse Aveiro has around 1,500 employees and had a turnover of 450 million euros in 2024.
Can you tell us a bit about the project in collaboration with FI Group? What were the challenges encountered and the advantages of this collaboration?
In 2022, Horse Aveiro, which at the time was called Renault Cacia, began a transformation program in which it defined a series of strategic axes, including the development of the innovation ecosystem and digital transformation. Through these channels of growth and ecosystem development we encountered FI Group. Through our collaboration we quickly identified a series of projects and initiatives that were about to emerge or were already underway, such as, for example, the National Test Beds Network program, and we considered at the time that it was a relevant and effective project for us to be able to accelerate our entire digital transformation plan.
And so FI Group became our main partner in this project and helped us to identify our co-promoters in this project, which are the Brisa Group and Via Verde. This collaborative effort helped us to build the entire application for this project.
It’s actually a very strong application, not only because of its constituents but also due to its development content and value creation within the Test Bed framework. Therefore, it is a project that, given its robustness, allowed us to anticipate market consultation. We are talking about a six-month period before the government’s validation of this project. The market consultation aimed to identify SMEs and startups that could use the Test Bed as a testing platform for developing their businesses.
In terms of the concrete results of this collaboration, what impact is it having with Horse Aveiro?
This early consultation with SMEs and startups, six months before the validation of our application, was crucial for the results we are seeing now. We are perfectly on track to achieve the objectives set by IAPMEI, which must be met by the end of the grant program in September 2025. This includes completing all the pilots defined during the application phase: 59 pilots in total, with 9 for the Brisa and Via Verde Group and 50 from our side.
What do you think of FI Group’s support throughout this process? How do you think this experience has gone for both teams?
Indeed, this partnership with FI Group has proven to be a winning bet, as FI Group presents itself as the ideal partner and a perfect complement to our needs within this project. FI Group brings the experience and knowledge we need, especially in areas that are not our expertise, creating a team that allows us to address the various fronts required by this project. An experienced, available, and proactive team that makes this project very dynamic, productive, and even innovative. Every day, our interactions with the FI Group and the companies we work with open up new opportunities and perspectives in areas of our interest that we initially did not know how to approach.
Watch the video here