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In APA News Today
Local News
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Burson Auto Parts sold
Smartcompany.com.au | Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:51:27 GMT+00:00
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| Automotive component company Burson Auto Parts with a 40-year history in the industry, has been sold to private equity firm Quadrant for AUD $148million. Co-founder Garry Burson, says his reason for selling is: "It was part age, and partly time for somebody young with more energy and IT savvy to run the business." The 70-year-old will remain a minority shareholder of Burson Auto Parts, which has about 100 staff members from Darwin to Hobart. With revenue of around $300million, it is second to Repco and has 92 company-owned and branded trade distribution centres in Australia. The eight-month sales process was run by KPMG. Burson says he was a bit more of a part-time CEO and that "in the absence of family or business succession" he decided to sell. He is also confident the incoming chief executive Darryl Abotomey, a former Repco employee, will do a good job. Chris Hadley, Quadrant managing director, says the business performed very well during the global financial crisis and operates in an industry which is "very resilient in the current challenging environment." |
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International News
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Bridgestone US expansion
Tyrepress.com | 2011-09-23 07:12:00
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| Tyre maker Bridgestone recently announced plans to construct a tyre plant in South Carolina (USA), Bridgestone's first outside of Japan, and to increase passenger car and light truck tyre capacity at its Aiken County plant, located in the same state. It also announced that bus and truck tyre capacity will be lifted; Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) said it will invest US$36.6 million to increase production capacity at its Warren County, Tennessee plant by 900 units per day. "With increasing demand in the market, it was time for us to increase capacity to meet the needs of customers seeking world-class Bridgestone and Firestone truck and bus tyres," says Kurt Danielson, president, Bridgestone Americas Commercial Solutions group, BATO. This expansion is expected to create 50 new jobs and be complete in the first quarter of 2013. Site preparation and construction will begin in the second quarter of 2012, with construction expected to be complete by the third quarter of the same year and the installation of manufacturing equipment beginning in the following quarter. Bridgestone anticipates reaching full production in the final quarter of 2013. |
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Visteon strong position in Asia
Wall Street Journal | Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:15:47 GMT+00:00
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| Visteon, the auto-parts maker formerly owned by Ford Motor, emerged last October from bankruptcy protection as a stronger company with a lighter debt load. The Michigan-based company, with an office based in Lara (VIC), now generates 40% of its sales in Asia, up from 12% in 2005. Ford, which spun out Visteon in 2000, still accounts for 28% of revenue. But Visteon's biggest customers are the Korean car makers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, which contribute a combined 30% of annual revenue. Visteon has four product lines, with the largest, climate control, contributing 48% of last year's US$7.5 billion in revenue. The company also makes interiors, lighting and electronics components such as infotainment systems and high-tech dashboard instrumentation. Visteon could make an attractive takeover target for larger rivals, such as Johnson Controls, which are seeking more business in Asia. |
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SORL establishes European subsidiary
Beacon Equity Research | Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:40:26 GMT+00:00
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| SORL Auto Parts Inc. a Chinese supplier of brake and control systems to the global commercial vehicle industry, will create of a new subsidiary, SORL Europe, to win more contracts and service customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa. (SORL has a sale centre in Australia). SORL Europe will market its quality certified products to truck, trailer and bus manufacturers and look to increase its aftermarket distribution network. The new subsidiary will be located in Brussels, Belgium and will be headed by Jean Francois Barth, vice president of international markets and managing director for SORL. SORL Auto Parts principally manufactures and distributes automotive brake systems and other key security related auto parts directly to OE manufacturers. The company's products primarily are used in commercial vehicles like trucks and buses. It is China's largest commercial airbrake system manufacturer with over half of its customers comprised of China's major vehicle manufacturers. The European brake market is posed to be an important vehicle for growth with 10% growth projected this year for aftermarket products.
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Retail
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AutoZone beats expectations
Reuters | Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:00:26 GMT+00:00
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| US auto parts retail chain, AutoZone's quarterly profit exceeded Wall Street expectations, driven by higher margins and rising commercial (do-it-for-me) sales. The do-it-yourself segment refers to consumers repairing their vehicles themselves, and the do-it-for-me segment means they take the vehicle to a professional repair facility. Domestic do-it-for-me sales grew 23.4 per cent compared with 20.2 per cent last year. The company, which caters primarily to the do-it-yourself consumer, has been focusing on building its do-it-for-me business as the increasing complexity of vehicles makes more car owners turn to repair shops. Parts retailers have aimed to increase sales to repair shops as owners of more complex modern vehicles choose to have work performed at such shops rather than do it themselves. There are about 250 million vehicles on the road in the US, with an average age of about 10 years. Older cars need more repairs, boding well for auto parts retailers. AutoZone, valued at about US$13.70 billion, opened 68 new stores in the last quarter and gained market share from its rivals such as Advance Auto Parts Inc. and O'Reilly Automotive. Its domestic same-store sales climbed 4.5 per cent. |
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Workshop
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Nissan's cheaper charger for EVs
AutomotiveIT International | Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:52:55 GMT+00:00
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| Nissan plans to start selling a new lower cost quick charger for electric vehicles starting in November. It will need about 30 minutes to recharge the battery of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle to 80 percent capacity. The Japanese carmaker says the new device, which initially will only be sold in Japan, is half the size of the old one. It will also retail at "significantly less" than one million yen, compared with 1.47million yen for the current-generation charger. Nissan hopes to sell 5,000 of the new units by March 2016. It also plans to sell the systems in Europe and the US but didn't set a timetable for this. Reducing the time it takes to recharge an EV battery is important in the industry's efforts to attract new customers. With the range of the average EV little more than 100km, automakers want to assure potential buyers that recharging can be achieved relatively quickly. Volvo and other car companies are also working on systems that give future EV owners a quick-recharge option. |
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OEM
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Commodore exports to Brazil
The Australian | Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:00:20 GMT+00:00
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| General Motors Holden has confirmed its export program of about 650 Holden Commodores a year is under review in the wake of the Brazilian government decision to protect its local manufacturing industry. Holden spokeswoman Emily Perry says the decision would add thousands of dollars to the retail price of its cars in Brazil, which would "obviously make it difficult for us to compete in the Brazilian market". The Brazilian move comes as Australian manufacturers are also facing a squeeze from the high value of the Australian dollar. Holden was not advocating a return to tariffs in Australia, Perry says, but the Brazilian decision showed how Australia was being prevented from accessing other export markets, "so clearly it is not a level playing field," she adds. "The reality is that countries with a high-tech, automotive manufacturing industry either have tariff protections or supportive, significant co-investment policies." The Brazilian decision applied to cars using less than 65 per cent domestic parts, however, cars made in Mexico and neighbouring South American countries will be exempt from the increase in protection. |
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EV heater from Futuris
GoAuto.com.au | Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:42:36 +1000
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| Local automotive supplier Futuris is preparing to target global electric vehicle makers with a new heater that can provide instantaneous heat at 98 per cent energy efficiency in a device not much bigger than a mobile phone. Developed in partnership with the company that patented the technology, MicroHeat Industries, the MicroHeater can increase the cold weather driving range of electric-powered and plug-in hybrid vehicles by reducing the amount of electricity drawn from batteries to keep vehicle occupants comfortable. It is also more compact than conventional car heaters, providing dashboard packaging opportunities for carmakers that are always looking for ways to make components smaller and lighter and make way for the growing number of on-board gadgets such as sat-nav. Futuris, a fully owned subsidiary of Elders Limited, specialises in automotive interiors and control systems, including car seats, roof linings, door trims, carpets, steering systems, pedal systems and airbag modules. It supplies all three Australian car-makers - GM Holden, Ford and Toyota - and also has contracts with Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and Fisker, and Chinese manufacturers Chery, JAC, GAC Gonow and Brilliance Auto. |
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Technology
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Design software with global reach
GoAuto.com.au | Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:44:52 +1000
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| Australian automotive designers and engineers are opening doors into overseas markets by using design software that allows them to work in parallel with their overseas counterparts in real time over the internet. Local car-makers Ford and Toyota and 25 major component suppliers are using the French-developed Dassault Systemes Catia design software to extend their reach into international automotive projects. The software allows engineers at companies such as automatic transmission-maker DSI, car interiors specialist Futuris and Bosch to work with carmakers anywhere in the world, speeding up the car design process, saving millions of dollars and creating more opportunities for Australian intellectual property and design prowess. Because all components are designed on the same program, they can be assembled "virtually" as the design progresses, with suppliers and OEMs having access to each other's latest design data via the web at any time. The program's 3D computer-aided design (CAD) process allows the car companies to go straight from a digital 3D mock-up to metal at the prototype and tooling stages. This has cut the development time of a typical car from around seven years to about three to four years. |
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GM OnStar data
Register.co.uk | Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:59:21 GMT+00:00
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| OnStar is a service offered by General Motors USA, which inserts a mobile phone, along with telemetry tracking kit, into cars sold by the company. Owners are then offered the option to sign up to the navigation and automatic crash reporting, but in a policy change the company will start collecting data from drivers even if they haven't signed up for the service. In the notice being sent out to subscribers, OnStar explains that from December this year it will start collecting information about everything from oil levels to mileage, and details of any accident in which the vehicle is involved - including direction of impact, seatbelt use and the location/speed of the vehicle at the time of the accident. OnStar explains it will also be collecting anonymous data for traffic and usage analysis, which is probably more valuable to General Motors than details about individuals. |
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legal notices
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