Japanese clutch-maker buys UK in-wheel motor pioneer for €30m
23 February 2026 
UPDATED: The Japanese clutch and automotive transmission manufacturer Exedy is buying Protean Electric, the UK-based developer of in-wheel motors (IWMs) for electric vehicles, for around €30m. Exedy says the acquisition will help it to transform its portfolio to provide new opportunities in the automotive sector as it undergoes “a major transformation”.
Exedy expects Protean’s in-wheel motor technology to help improve vehicle control and increase freedom in vehicle designs. It also believes that Protean’s technology – which combines mechanical, electrical and control engineering – has the potential to contribute to changes in drivetrain architectures. It predicts that the integrated technology could advance control integration, which is often cited as a challenge in the shift toward software-defined vehicles.
Another potential attraction of Protean’s technology is that it could allow two-wheel-drive platforms to be converted to four-wheel operation quickly and at relatively low cost – an attractive prospect for car-makers.
Exedy says that Protean could also help to address an “internal challenge” that it is facing – its limited number of engineers with expertise in both mechanical and electrical technologies.
“Our acquisition of Protean allows Exedy to address the ongoing shift towards electrification in the automotive industry – a key pillar of our business,” explains Exedy CEO, Tetsuya Yoshinaga. “Protean is a market-leader that develops, manufactures, and sells in-wheel motors – drive motors integrated into the wheels – which already has a track record of commercial deployment. Through the acquisition, Exedy intends to combine the technological strengths of both companies to continue providing competitive products and services.”
Protean says that under its new ownership, it will be able to meet the market demand for its in-wheel motors at an industrial scale and at a competitive cost. As the automotive industry moves towards electrification and software-defined platforms, the backing of a Tier 1 supplier will allow Protean to develop its products further and to expand into new markets.
“This transaction represents a major step in the adoption of ProteanDrive as a mainstream drivetrain solution for the automotive industry,” says Protean Electric’s CEO, Andrew Whitehead. “Our acquisition by Exedy allows our OEM customers to confidently enable their future products with in-wheel motors. The potential for ProteanDrive to allow OEMs to deliver better electric vehicles has been clear to many for years – this transaction provides us with the industrial scale to offer a sustainable, cost-competitive product that turns the potential into reality.”
Exedy is buying Protean from Bedeo, a UK company specialising in electric transport technologies, which acquired Protean from National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), a subsidiary of China’s Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group, in 2021.
Protean, founded in 2008, has had a chequered history, with several changes of ownership. It can trace its history back to the pioneering British developer of pancake motors, Printed Motors (later renamed PML Flightlink), which was founded in 1963 and split in 2009 to form Protean and Printed Motor Works, which still manufactures low-profile motors in the UK – now as PMW Dynamics.
Protean was acquired by NEVS in 2019, as part of the Chinese property giant Evergrande’s strategy to become a major player in the global EV industry. NEVS was based on the former Saab Automobile business, whose assets Evergrande acquired following the Swedish car-maker’s bankruptcy in 2012. In January 2019, Evergrande Health acquired a 51% stake in NEVS, which it combined with Protean and several other automotive companies to create the New Energy Vehicle group. Bedeo acquired Protean in 2021 after Evergreen got into major financial difficulties.
Protean has more than 330 patents (current and pending) across 75 patent families, and has operations in the UK, China and Turkey. According to Exedy, Protean made an operating loss of £4.6m in 2025.
Last year, Protean claimed that the latest generation of its ProteanDrive wheel motor technology would cost the same as conventional twin-axle drive systems, offering the potential to lower electric vehicle costs and to deliver other advantages. It also claimed that it was the first IWM supplier able to deliver production-ready, high-performance IWMs for passenger car applications.
Protean also announced that Renault is planning to use two of the integrated wheel-motors in its Renault 5 Turbo 5E electric sportscar, designed to accelerate from 0–100km/h in less than 3.5 seconds, and hit a top speed of 269km/h (167 mph). Deliveries of these sportscars are due to start in 2027 using Protean’s Pm18 2500 drive system, which delivers more than 2.5kNm of torque and 220kW of power per wheel motor.
Exedy’s global sales in 2024 amounted to 309.6bn Japanese yen ($2bn). It has operations in 25 countries and employs around 14,200 people.
Exedy: LinkedIn
