BIG fleet bills for replacement catalytic converters could become a thing of the past as the result of a pan-European discovery. British company Timax joined forces with Rosi of France and Ansa of Italy to develop a far more robust cat with a metallic monolith instead of one made from fragile ceramics. The metal construction also enables the cats to be more easily recycled and results in faster light-up times.

The new cats will be sold under the Tesh brand name and all will be guaranteed for two years from the date of fitting. So far however the new cats are not going to be used by the OE market with the consortium targeting the replacement market.