GKN

The engineering company GKN might not be instantly recognizable, but it has been a leader in the world of four- and all-wheel drive for decades. In recent years, it has been working as much with electric motors as mechanical systems, and it has just revealed its latest work, which it calls All Twinster. It’s an all-wheel drive system designed for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and GKN says it’s the first such system to be capable of all-wheel torque-vectoring.

To create the GKN Technology Demonstrator 18, the company started with a Mercedes-AMG GLA, then ditched the front power-transfer unit, prop shaft, and rear axle. Up front, the GLA kept its gearbox, but it now uses GKN’s Twinster torque-vectoring system in place of the existing final drive and differential.