iStream ®

“I suppose one of the sort of misconceptions around Gordon Murray Design is that we're going to be a car manufacturer, and that's not our business.  Our core business is intellectual property."

So said Gordon Murray on entering his company's iStream ® low-carbon vehicle manufacturing process for the SMMT Automotive Innovation Award in 2010.  Professor Murray's IP business model is now coming to fruition.

In November 2013 Yamaha launched its MOTIV.e city car at the Tokyo Motor Show, announcing that "Yamaha Motor Company chose Gordon Murray Design to cooperate in the design and development of the MOTIV.e which utilises Gordon Murray Design's revolutionary iStream® manufacturing technology."

Reuters now quotes ‘a person familiar with the plan’ as revealing that Yamaha is to spend "tens of billions of yen" to build a manufacturing plant in Europe with a view to start making and selling two-seater cars in Europe as early as 2019, targeting environmentally-conscious drivers.

There are many ways of using intellectual property in engineering business. You should of course seek professional advice on your own particular circumstances.