Valeo Sylvania Targets Visteon

Automotive Industries, May, 1999 by Marjorie Sorge

Valeo Sylvania wants to unseat Visteon as the No. 1 provider of lighting assemblies in North America Created a year ago to provide lighting assembles worldwide, its sales are expected to reach $250 million in 1999, and $400 million by 2003, says company President Jim Johnson.

Valeo Sylvania has a 22% market share that Johnson wants to see rise to 30% That would knock Visteon out of first place. "We are set to be the dominant player in North America," he says confidently.

"They have momentum, but Visteon's sheer volume makes it difficult to unseat it rapidly without an acquisition," observes industry analyst Craig Cather, president of CSM Consulting in Northvine, Mich.

Valeo Sylvania, a joint venture between French supplier Valeo and Sylvania, has a new plant in Queretaro, Mexico to provide exterior lighting assemblies to Volkswagen, Nissan and General Motors assembly plants in South America The plant will be expanded in 2000, so those systems can be shipped back to the U.S. That timeframe coincides with a 2002 Ford small car program and GMs small car modular assembly program, if those projects are okayed.

Meanwhile, sister company OSRAM Sylvania and its parent Siemens have created OSRAM Opto Semiconductors to supply an LED (light emitting diode) lighting system for exterior and interior use. Sally Moran, vice president of sales and marketing, sees growth in LED lightning among European and Asia/Pacific automakers.

Neon lighting use is also growing, she adds, predicting that 10% to 15% of the vehicles worldwide will use it within five years. HID (high intensity discharge) lamp use is also growing, she claims. It's on the '99 Acura TL and GMC Envoy SUV. Neither neon or HID has been done in high volume outside of Europe. That will change in 2001, Johnson promises, when he says a major domestic automaker will use HID lighting on a high-volume vehicle.