Just wanted to say thank you for your help at very short notice last week which was greatly appreciated. The Lateral staff were excellent from the phone call to the job being completed.
Wayne Hall, Managing Director
Medical Services (North East) Limited
We have found Lateral Design incredibly helpful and efficient in all aspects of their services and communication with ourselves. They continue to provide us with outstanding sales and after sales service.
Ian Whetton, Cumbria Workshop Supervisor
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Lateral have converted a variety of new and used vehicles for wheelchair passenger access for Wheelchair Cars Ireland since we began working together in 2009. We have been delighted with the prompt and friendly service offered, and with the consistent high quality and finish of the low-floor conversions Lateral have completed in-house for us.
Donal Murtagh, Managing Director
Wheelchair Cars Ireland
ABOUT US
Automotive excellence is at the heart of Lateral. We apply decades of vehicle precision-engineering knowledge and experience to the development of our industry-leading accessible vehicle product range.
Passion for design ingenuity and for implementation of volume automotive techniques to conversion products is obvious across our ever-growing portfolio of ramps, lowering suspension systems and wheelchair accessible vehicles.
Lateral's first product, the patented 'Wedge cassette' ramp, revolutionised ambulance access at the turn of the millennium, and has continued to be a huge success for vehicle operators, who benefit from Wedge's quick and easy to use ramp method, and from the significantly reduced vehicle maintenance costs and down-time it offers.
Since entering the wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) market, we have grown to become the UK's leading manufacturer; Lateral is the brand people trust. We offer conversions for a vast range of vehicles, from the compact and affordable Fiat QUBO, to the highly-spacious Kia SEDONA.
Lateral continues to respond and adapt to the changing demands and priorities of the automotive market, and our New Product Development & Testing functions run concurrently with our highly-automated Production facility to enhance our customer offering. Our experience in safety testing and approval exercises related to accessible vehicle conversion is unsurpassed.
Via our new ax-s brand, Lateral's product range has grown to include a range of cost-effective but superlatively resolved bi-fold ramps, lowering suspension systems, and loading winches.
We harmonise original thought, leading-edge design and manufacturing technology, and relentless passion for improvement, to offer an unparalleled range of accessible vehicle products and services.
OUR HISTORY
Lateral Design Concepts was founded by Steve Greenwood in 1997 following his return to the UK after seven-years working as a Project Engineer at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Geneva), where he worked alongside particle physicists on the design and development of new detectors for the Large Hadron Collider ('LHC').
The company's first major project was to design-engineer the chassis and 'active suspension' for a new high-performance TVR sports car. Numerous other specialist technical/automotive projects were subsequently tasked to Steve's new venture, notably including design of 'reactive hydraulic suspension' systems for ambulance applications, and development of a stainless steel monocoque sports car with Eric Broadley (of Lola).
A meeting with one of the UK's major vehicle converters resulted in Steve turning his hand to the design of an innovative electric, fully-integrated 'Wedge Cassette' access -ramp. This landmark product achieved great success, finding significant demand in particular from the ambulance conversion market, and it continues to be a 'core' product for Lateral today. This first venture into the vehicle access equipment market proved to be instrumental in paving the way for Lateral's establishment as the UK's leading manufacturer of wheelchair access products for special purpose vehicles.
The turn of the Millennium saw Lateral Design Concepts registered as a Limited Company, and our product output has increased substantially with each passing year. Our workforce has grown from a modest group of four, to a multi-skilled team of over sixty, comprising highly talented Design Engineers, Technicians & Fabricators, Production & Sales Managers, and Procurement & Support personnel. Our growth has been further facilitated by our investment in the most advanced design and manufacturing equipment operated in our industry.
In 2003 we produced our first wheelchair accessible passenger car conversion, based upon the Fiat Doblo. This proved to be another defining development for Lateral, asserting our position as experts in the precision engineering of vehicle access products.
Since then Lateral's range of products and services has expanded and diversified substantially, to now include an extensive range of 'Low-floor' and 'Integra' type wheelchair accessible passenger car and van kits & conversions, and electric and manual vehicle ramps for special purpose vehicles.
Our new ax-s brand is home to our range of off-the-shelf vehicle access equipment, catering for client's needs for highly-engineered but cost effective surface-mount ramps ('Omniramp'), fail-safe hydraulic lowering suspension systems ('Hydra-Kneel'), and, coming soon, our user-friendly winches. ax-s products are configurable for a wide range of base vehicles and applications, available for quick dispatch to converters and end users.
Lateral will further expand and reinforce its market leading position in the accessible vehicle markets of the UK and the rest of the world, through sustained growth and development of our revolutionary range of special purpose automotive products.
