Supply and Demand

Automotive Industries,  Nov, 1999  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

NORTH AMERICA

Lear Wins PSA Seat Contract

Lear Corp. is awarded a contract from PSA/Peugeot-Citroen to provide seat systems for a new platform on a just-in-time basis. The contract is Lear's first seating business with a French automaker.

Borg-Warner Sells Kuhlman Electric

Borg-Warner Automotive Inc. completes its sale of Kuhlman Electric to Carlyle Group LLC for about $120 million, less debt of about $1 million. Borg-Warner Automotive acquired Kuhlman Electric as part of its March 1999 purchase of Kuhlman Corp.

BRAIN Intl. Acquires CMI-CS

BRAIN International acquires CMI-Competitive Solutions Inc. (CMI-CS), a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based automotive enterprise resource planning software provider. BRAIN now has more than 1,200 installations worldwide. The two newly combined U.S. divisions of BRAIN and CMI-CS project revenue of more than $27.3 million for the 1999 calendar year.

GKN Sinter Metals purchases Zenith

GKN Sinter Metals purchases Germantown, Wis.-based Zenith Sintered Products Inc., a main bearing cap supplier. Zenith, with 1998 fiscal year sales of $61.4 million, has more than 600 employees at five plants in Wisconsin.

J.L French To Acquire Nelson Stock

J.L French Automotive Castings Inc. signs a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Nelson Metal Products Corp. The transaction is expected to close during fourth quarter of 1999. Nelson, with annual revenues of more than $200 million, is a full-service supplier of medium and large aluminum die castings.

PPG Builds Distribution Center

PPG Industries' automotive refinish coatings business unit constructs a $6.1 million distribution center near Lima, Ohio. The 252,000-square-foot center is expected to be in full operation by October 2000.

XM Signs Agreement With Motorola

XM Satellite Radio signs an agreement with Motorola to license the technology for XM's new band of radio that will use direct satellite-to-receiver broadcasting. This agreement will allow Motorola to design, develop, produce and market XM-capable receivers for the OEM market.

GNB Signs Agreement With Optima

GNB Technologies announces a five-year partnership with Optima Batteries to market and develop new battery designs. The agreement will allow GNB and Optima to research the combination of Optima's spiral-wound technology with GNB's heat resistant AG-9TM alloy.

ASIA

Visteon Purchase Naldec

Visteon Automotive Systems purchases Hiroshima, Japan-based Naldec Corp. from Mazda Motor Corp. Naldec, a manor of advanced electronic body and safety vehicle modules, employs about 220 people.

Mazda Awards IBM Outsourcing Deal

Mazda Motor Corp. agrees to outsource most of the development and operation of its information systems to IBM Japan. The deal is worth about $480 million over 10 years.

EUROPE

Valeo Completes Wind Tunnel

Valeo Klimasysteme GmbH, a division of Valeo's climate control branch, completes refurbishment of a climactic wind tunnel in Hockenheim, Germany. The tunnel is designed for testing vehicle thermal systems under wide-ranging climatic and operating conditions, with temperatures ranging from-30 degrees C to 60 degrees C.

Plastic Omnium To Build New Plant

Plastic Omnium plans to build a 49,200-square-foot plant at the Aeroparc de Fontaine near Belfort in eastern France. The new plant will manufacture components for a Peugeot vehicle to be produced at the Sochaux and Mulhouse plants. Construction will start in January 2000 and manufacturing operations are scheduled to begin in October 2000.

Autoliv Acquires Shares in Norma

Autoliv Inc. reaches a definitive agreement with the Estonian Norma Group AS to acquire 49.5% of the shares in Norma AS. The agreement also gives Autoliv the right to acquire another 1.5% of the Norma shares. Norma's 1998 annual sales totaled about $30 million.

E-COMMERCE

American Honda Motor Co. Inc. makes an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to license MSN CarPoint's DealerPoint technology to all Honda and Acura dealers. DealerPoint is an electronic lead-management system designed to help dealers manage and quickly respond to Internet prospects and monitor online sales performance. Under this licensing agreement, Microsoft will provide DealerPoint technology to more than 1,000 Honda and 250 Acura dealers.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Cahners Publishing Company
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group