TRW has issued new licenses for its Lucas branded rotating electrical products less than one month after the collapse of Lucas SRE, with the head licence going to Elta Lighting, an existing bulb supplier based at Colehill, West Midlands.

Under the terms of the agreement Elta will offer obligatory lighting, bulbs, switchgear and lambda sensors. It will also manage a number of other licenses for longstanding suppliers of the Lucas SRE programme, comprising Yuasa for batteries, Vision Alert for emergency lighting, SMP for ignition and engine management products, Elstock for rotating machines and Sherbrook for door mirrors.

Birmingham-based Lucas SRE was a joint venture formed 12 months ago between Sovereign Rotating Electrics and TRW, which owns the Lucas brand. Beside its own Sovereign range, it produced and distributed both Lucas and TRW electrical products under license.

In June it was forced to cut 100 jobs at its site in West Sussex, which it blamed on rising costs, and last month it called in administrators. Of its remaining 44 employees, 36 have since been made redundant, two have gone to TRW and six will work with Elta to continue distributing the Lucas electrical range.

“We have worked hard with the administrators and the new licensees to reach this agreement to secure the future of the Lucas brand as a leading name in electrical products,” says Francois Augnet, director and general manager of TRW Automotive Aftermarket Europe.

“Our priority has been to secure supply to the customer base of Lucas electrical products. We believe that this is a viable business option which secures some jobs and maintains customer supply for the electrical programme.

Martin Bates, managing director of Elta Lighting says he is committed to delivering optimum service. He adds: “We are contacting all customers of Lucas electrical products to make it clear that their supply will continue and all of the new licence holders are committed to developing the product programmes for the future.”