Garrett Motion

Garrett AiResearch formed AiResearch Industrial Division after getting an order to turbocharge 5,000 Caterpillar mining vehicles like the one depicted above.

John Clifford "Cliff" Garrett founded the Aircraft Tool and Supply Company in a one-room office in Los Angeles in 1936.[4][5] In 1938, the company changed its name to Garrett Corporation, consolidating several companies into one with three divisions. The company produced aircraft turbochargers for the war effort in World War II, as well as avionics, environmental controls and other products.[5]

In the 1950s, the city of Los Angeles and other municipalities started using turbochargers in their sewage purification operations. By 1952, 20,000 turbocharged engines were in use in the US.[6] In order to explore applications of turbochargers for diesel engines, Garrett separated the turbocharger group from the gas turbine group on September 27, 1954, to form the AiResearch Industrial Division (AID).[7]

The first T-15 Turbocharger was delivered to the Caterpillar Company in 1955.[8] It was followed by an order for 5,000 production units, to be installed in the Caterpillar D9 tractor.[9][6] The industrial division produced turbochargers for construction machinery, railroad locomotives, tractors, ships, powerplants and oil pipeline pumping stations.[6]

The Chevrolet Corvair Monza was one of the first turbocharged passenger vehicles. It was the sports model in the Corvair lineup.

The T11 automotive turbocharger developed in 1960 expanded turbos to commercial vehicles such as the heavy trucks produced by Mack Trucks, Volvo and Scania.[6] The first turbocharged passenger cars were the Chevrolet Corvair Monza and the Oldsmobile Jetfire in 1962/1963. In the 1960s turbochargers were used in race-cars and sports cars, gaining an association with racing culture and auto-enthusiasts.[10] Company founder Cliff Garrett’s death in 1963 was followed by a hostile takeover threat by Curtiss-Wright Corporation. To avoid this, Garrett Corporation merged with Signal Oil and Gas Company in 1964.[5] The combined company adopted the name The Signal Companies in 1968[9] before merging with Allied Corporation to become Allied-Signal Inc.

The oil crisis of the 1970s made federal regulators put pressure on car manufacturers to reduce exhaust emissions. By 1977 manufacturers introduced turbocharged cars in the US and Europe like the second generation Buick Regal and LeSabre sports coupe as well as European cars by Volvo, Saab, Peugeot, Renault and Mercedes.[6] In 1978 there were only eight turbocharged car models and seven used Garrett turbochargers.[6] Garrett formed the automotive group in 1980 and by the mid-1980s there were over 100 turbocharged models.[6] Turbochargers became commonplace by the 1990s.[10]

Audi R18 TDI, with Garrett turbocharger.

In 1994, Allied-Signal acquired the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division of Textron followed by the sale of the Garrett Aviation Division to General Electric three years later. In 1999, it merged with Honeywell International Inc. and adopted Honeywell as the company name.[5] In 2011, Honeywell sold its automotive Consumer Products Group to Rank Group, a New Zealand private investment firm, for $950 million. This included brands like Fram Filters, Prestone antifreeze and Autolite spark plugs.[11]

In the 2000s Garrett’s turbochargers were installed in the engines of the Chevrolet Sonic, Mercedes S 350, Volkswagen Polo, BMW X6 ActiveHybrid, Ford F-350, Volkswagen Golf and Jaguar XF among others.[12][13][14][15][16] In 2010 the company developed 15 new technologies for 100 new engines, including the world’s first use of ball bearing technology in a mainstream light vehicle diesel engine.[17] Garrett has developed the world’s smallest turbo for the Tata Nano[18][19] as well as for the 100-liter engine of the Caterpillar mining truck.[18][19]

On October 1, 2018, Garrett Motion Inc. became an independent publicly-traded company through a pro rata distribution of Garrett shares to Honeywell’s stockholders. Each Honeywell stockholder of record received one share of Garrett common stock for every 10 shares of Honeywell common stock held on the record date. Approximately 74 million shares of Garrett common stock were distributed on October 1, 2018, to Honeywell stockholders.

On September 21, 2020, Garrett Motion announced its intention to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and be acquired by KPS Capital Partners.[20]

The Garrett brand competes in numerous motorsport series and supports sports car racing, drag racing, rally racing, and open-wheel racing. Racing vehicles using a Garrett turbo include:[21]

The different types and sizes of Garrett's turbochargers.

Garrett offers gasoline-powered turbochargers called wastegate turbos. They are designed to be smaller than previous turbo generations, have higher fuel efficiency, more torque, and meet emissions standards.[27] Garrett also offers Variable-geometry turbochargers called VNT.[28] They have nine moveable vanes, an electrohydraulic actuator and a proportional solenoid for variable control throughout the engine’s power curve.[10][29] This means the air passageway of the turbo varies to meet the engine’s needs at different RPMs. Forty million VNT turbochargers have been sold since the 1990s.[30] VNT DutyDrive, previously called Double Axle VNT, uses 12-19 turbine nozzle vanes supported by twin axles for trucks and buses.[31]

Garrett also offers a diesel engine version of wastegate turbos and VNTs.[32] Dual-Stage turbochargers use two smaller turbochargers either side-by-side (parallel) or in sequence (serial).[32] The first is used at low speeds and a valve opens up the second as engine RPMs increase. The dual-stage used in the Audi A6/A7 three liter V6 engine however runs both turbochargers at a lower pressure mode and some use one larger turbo followed by a smaller one.[33] The Dualboost has dual compressors to mimic a twin turbocharger.[34]

• Official website