Continental, the German-owned automotive supplier, has increased its shareholding in Zytek Automotive, which employs about 150 people at its headquarters in Fradley (near Lichfield), from 50% to 100%.

The latter, which will now operate as a part of the Continental Engineering Services UK organisation, focuses on conventional, electrical and hybrid drive systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

Bernd Neitzel, managing director of Continental Engineering Services, said: “This acquisition allows us to meet the increasing need for engineering services.

Whether it’s from vehicle manufacturers or suppliers, we are seeing an increase in requests for customer-specific designs and for components for small production runs or niche vehicles, in areas such as electronic brakes, the chassis and the power-train.”