120 Weeks. One Goal. One Vehicle. Bertrandt Speed!

Traditionally, complete vehicle development follows a clearly structured sequence. In the concept phase, fundamental requirements are defined before initial technical solutions are created in the realization phase and essential adjustments are made. As development progresses, the final series vehicle takes shape. Parallel to this, development-accompanying validation runs with increasingly production‑ready prototypes that are tested for function, safety, and durability.
This system works—but it takes three to five years. In a world where markets and technologies constantly reinvent themselves, that is simply too slow.

The New Standard: A Shortened PEP

A modern development process must be both digitalized and significantly shortened. That’s exactly why we developed an optimized Product Engineering Process (PEP) that convinces through digital tools, clear decision paths, and well‑thought‑out process optimizations.
The result is impressive: vehicles based on existing platforms reach series maturity after just around 120 weeks—roughly 2.5 years. At the same time, the need for physical prototypes decreases, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. This approach demonstrates how digitalization and intelligently integrated AI create real competitive advantages and completely redefine development cycles.

The key lies in a series of interlocking success factors. Requirements are described only to the level of detail necessary for the current step—accelerating progress and reducing rework. The complexity of development increases deliberately in controlled phases, ensuring that design changes remain possible while speed continues to rise.
Decisions are made exactly when they provide the greatest boost to project progress, resulting in clearer approvals and shorter timelines. Design and simulation work in an agile, closely connected manner, increasing flexibility and significantly accelerating iteration cycles. At the digital core of the process lies the Digital Twin, representing the vehicle virtually and enabling AI‑supported simulations, variant analyses, and precise predictions. This creates a development environment that saves time, increases accuracy, and noticeably reduces costs.
This is complemented by comprehensive digital validation, which increasingly replaces classical physical test vehicles—both at component and vehicle level. The result: fewer physical tests, higher predictive quality, and, once again, more speed.

The Future Drives Digital—and Faster

By combining agility, digitalization, and AI with an intelligent process architecture, we demonstrate how modern vehicle development works: more precise, more efficient, and significantly faster, with lower effort and reduced costs. And all of this with innovative, continuous improvement.
The 120‑week approach proves how consistent process optimization and digital methods work together to bring a concept to series maturity in record time.

If you want your project to shift into the fast lane, we’re ready. We’re happy to support you in rethinking development and implementing it faster.
How do we do it? We’ll show you in the upcoming articles. Stay tuned!