Commercialising the automotive exhaust-gas analyzer (1965)

One technology opens a new market

The heart of this decision lies not in originating an entirely new technology but in turning the speed of an analyzer refined for medical use towards a different target. The 0.1-second response obtained in analysing exhaled breath carried over intact to measuring exhaust gas, which changes with driving conditions. Horiba’s division of labour — holding the sensor in-house and entrusting the periphery to others — can be seen as what gave it the agility to shift its target from medicine to automobiles. To the question of which market to point one’s technology at, this commercialisation offers one answer.

At the point of commercialisation, neither the tightening of emissions regulation nor the breadth of demand was foreseeable. Beginning with exhibitions that doubled as market research, bringing in used engines and toughening the device while inviting criticism, the process shows a caution that confirms demand before moving to volume production. Regulation eventually became a tailwind, and the device grew into inspection equipment on the production line. This product, in which the redirection of a technology and the arrival of regulation coincided, became the starting point from which Horiba would make automotive measurement a pillar for years to come.