The concept: of using catalyst technology to reduce the emissions from automobile exhausts has been around for many years, but it wasn't until 1974 that catalytic converters were first used on production vehicles. Since that first introduction, converters have become a common component on motor vehicles in the United States, Japan and Canada.
On October 27, 1983 engineers representing the five Australian vehicle manufacturers met in Melbourne with AC representatives to review the various catalytic converter designs being considered by manufacturers for use in Australia.
The consensus that day was that all could benefit from a converter with common tooling. Each manufacturer would have unique catalyst coatings tailored to meet individual vehicle requirements but all would use the basic catalytic converter. On that day, October 27, 1983, the design criterion for the basic 1.4 litre Australian Catalytic Converter was determined by Australian and AC Engineers and is currently being used by all five Australian Manufacturers.
Since commencing production just 2 years ago in November 1985, over 450,000 converters have been supplied in two sizes, 1.4 litre and 1.7 litre to the five major Australian Vehicle Manufacturers. Australian catalytic converter exports to Japan and Korea have already exceeded 160,000 units and 300,000 catalytic converter components have been sent to the U.S.A..