capricorn Automotive – St. Étienne, Frankreich

In the beautiful city of St. Etienne, capricorn AUTOMOTIVE SAS develop and produce high-end crankshafts for the motor sport industry and various OEM segments. Founded under the name Chambon in St. Etienne in the year 1933,

we can look back on more than 80 years of experience and great success that made us the top market reference and therefore the first choice of developers and engine manufacturers worldwide.

Our success story began with producing automotive, truck and compressor crankshafts – which are still the company’s core products to this day. But the foundations for our successful involvement in motor sports was laid by the cooperation with engine tuner Amédée Gordini in 1952.

Passion as the driving force

capricorn AUTOMOTIVE SAS has established itself as a successful producer of motor sport crankshafts. One prestigious award has followed the next over the last few decades. Currently we are the only manufacturer of hightech components to be present in almost every international racing competition. The list is like a who-is-who of motor sports: FIA Formula 1 World Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA Rally World Championship, FIA World Touring Car Championship, NASCAR, NHRA, DTM, Formula Nippon, Formula 3, MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 as well as historic motor sports.

But capricorn crankshafts stand for more than just extraordinary engineering – they are synonymous with the highest quality and excellent customer service. It’s no wonder that the operational sequences are influenced by worldwide recognised industry management standards and tools. The adherence to lean manufacturing standards and continuous improvement principles within the whole company dictate our daily business.

Our engineering and analysation competence allow us to continuously design new models and carry out improvements on exciting developments. Of course this all runs in compliance with the requirements of our OEM clients and sporting regulations.

Our Services

OEM development
The offer of capricorn AUTOMOTIVE SAS includes complete development for OEMs or engine manufacturers – from first prototypes that are made from solid material to mass production parts made from forged and cast blanks.

Our Make Like Production approach that is greatly appreciated by our clients. Technology that appears later in the serial production is already used when developing prototypes. capricorn distinguishes between a pro-active way of thinking and a high level of flexibility.

Small series production
For our OEM small series production, capacities for batches of each project up to 5000 units per year are available to us. Our flexible production facility impresses with state-of-the-art machinery exclusively operated by experienced staff. Of course we produce according to latest design trends and act strictly according to the guidelines and requirements of the industry.