--- title: "Meet Horse, an Engine Company Filling the Gap Between Hybrids and EVs (and Powering Caterham Race Cars)" date: "2025-09-12" modified: "2025-09-12" authors: - name: "Andrew P. Collins" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/andrew-p-collins" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/meet-horse-an-engine-company-filling-the-gap-between-hybrids-and-evs-and-powering-caterham-race-cars" categories: - "Car Tech" - "Electric Vehicles" - "Manufacturing" - "News" tags: - "Electric Vehicle" --- # Meet Horse, an Engine Company Filling the Gap Between Hybrids and EVs (and Powering Caterham Race Cars) ![Horse C15 engine.]() *\Horse, edited by the author\* Horse Powertrain popped up on my radar this month as it trotted out its new [C15 engine]() at the [IAA Mobility show]() in Germany. The C15 is a 1.5-liter four-cylinder the size of carry-on luggage that makes almost 100 horsepower, designed to be a range extender for EVs. Days later, I saw a [Caterham Seven running a Horse engine]() in an entirely different capacity. Suddenly, I became very curious about this company, and thought you might be too. Here's a quick download on who they are and what they're about. I had never heard of Horse before this month, but it's no small upstart—it's already turning out about eight million powertrains a year. Based in Madrid, Spain, the company has 17 manufacturing plants and five R&D offices across Europe, South America, and Asia. "Horse Powertrain is an independent powertrain technology leader, built on 125 years of heritage from Renault and Geely. We bring together expertise, innovation and global reach to deliver innovative ICE and hybrid powertrain solutions," is the [logline](). Horse started life as a Renault (French) and Geely (Chinese) joint venture. Today, it's an independent company with three shareholders: Renault (45% stake), Geely (45% stake), and, as of last year, Aramco, Saudi Arabia's powerful state-owned oil company (10% stake). Horse makes the gasoline/hybrid powertrains for Renault and Geely, but also does business with other OEMs. For example, the hybrid third-gen Mercedes CLA has Horse tech under the hood. Horse has also supplied Volvo, Proton, Nissan, and Mitsubishi with powertrain components. ![Horse C15 engine front view.]() ![Horse C15 engine side view.]() ![Horse C15 engine top view.]() When I saw "briefcase-sized engine," I got excited thinking it might be the perfect heart for a sweet go-kart, but the company doesn't have a direct-to-consumer business; it's an OEM supplier. The main point of the C15 is to let OEMs focus on their battery-electric platforms without having to do their own R&D to develop a compact engine range extender on their own. The C15 is designed to be modular and adaptable to fit in different-sized vehicular compartments, and a turbocharged version will be available for larger vehicles. The company didn't share a weight spec for the little engine in its [press release]() or [IAA press conference](), but I'd expect it's between 150 and 300 pounds. While there could be a world where these engines are dropped into existing EVs as aftermarket range extenders, the idea is for them to be integrated with new car development from the jump. The C15's packaging, which just just 19.7 inches by 21.7 inches by 10.8 inches, includes a generator, exhaust, and cooling provisions. Of course, each OEM would have to figure out its own exhaust routing after the manifold to make sure the engine's emissions leave the car. That's bigger than most "briefcases" I've seen, but it'd still fit in travel luggage. As for Horse's more traditional car-engine applications, like what's powering Caterhams in the *Piston Heads* story I referenced earlier, that's part of the company's business, too. That particular mill is the HR13DDT, which is run in the Dacia Duster, Nissan Qashqai, and Mercedes A-Class in Europe. [Caterham Academy](), an incredibly cool novice driver program that lets you learn racecraft with one of its superlight sports cars, used to run Ford Sigma engines. But since those are no longer made new, Horse has stepped in as the supplier. I'm mentioning that again because it's the closest Horse gets right now to selling motors for an enthusiast/DIY-adjacent situation. ![Caterham Academy car running Horse engine]() **Caterham** Here's a closer look at that Academy car because, well, it's cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZYzXZsaEP0 I personally think range-extended EVs will gain prevalence in the near future. As battery energy density improves, we could soon find ourselves at a point where electric cars not only have comparable range to gasoline cars, but when paired with a range extender, could far out-cruise the powertrains of today between plug-ins. If that turns out to be true, you might start seeing Horse engines in even more vehicles. *Got a tip? Send us a note at tips@thedrive.com.* ## Author As Executive Editor, Andrew touches everything on the site from daily news coverage to feature stories, sponsored content, product reviews, road testing vehicles, ecommerce, and more. He's held pretty much every role there is to have at an automotive news site and has been with The Drive's publisher Recurrent since 2020. Andrew's a lifetime gearhead and longtime writer with a particularly strong penchant for road trips, off-road adventures, and archaic vehicles. His passions outside of the automotive world include skiing, obsolete video games, and his dog Bramble who occationally helps review cars. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()