Automotive News - March 3, 2008 - (Page 24)

24 • MARCH 3, 2008 PRINT TELEVISION RADIO BILLBOARDS JINGLES LOGO DESIGN POINT OF PURCHASE DIRECT MAIL Delphi divestiture boosts forging supplier David Barkholz dbarkholz@crain.com A lot MORE creative…for a lot LESS money. 800-941-6638 HOUR Turn Around Time! 48 www.TheCarAdStore.com DETROIT — The forging company planning to buy most of Delphi Corp.’s bearing assets says the acquisition will give it new design capabilities and assembly know-how. Hephaestus Holdings Inc., of suburban Detroit, agreed last month to purchase Delphi’s Sandusky, Ohio, wheel bearings plant and an attached technical center, Hephaestus CEO George Thanopoulos said. The price was $18.7 million. Hephaestus is one of North America’s largest makers of forged powertrain and axle products. The Delphi bearing business is complementary in that it makes many of the same parts as well as bearing subassemblies for mounting wheels, Thanopoulos said. Delphi “Sandusky is a huge consumer of forgings,” he said. The deal is expected to be completed on or before April 30, he said. Hephaestus customers include Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. The deal will almost double the size of Hephaestus’ work force to 2,000, Thanopoulos said. One of the keys to the acquisition is the Sandusky technical center. It will improve the supplier’s ability to de- sign parts and subsystems, a service desired by automakers, he said. Delphi is selling the bearing business and other units viewed as noncore as it restructures in Chapter 11 protection. Delphi hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 this month if it can complete a faltering effort to raise $6.1 billion in exit financing. Private equity company KPS Capital Partners LP owns most of Hephaestus. KPS also owns Blue Water Plastics Inc., an auto plastics company that recently sought Chapter 11 protection. Blue Water is based in Marysville, Mich., 50 miles northeast of Detroit. c BMW regional managers will report to Stefan Krause, sales and marketing chief. BMW shakes up global marketing, sales ranks Pia Krix pkrix@craincom.de “Running a business and building a new facility at the same time is very demanding. Our relationship with Federated allows us to concentrate on our business, knowing that we are protected and secure from outside events that could seriously impact our bottom line.” JR Smart Smart Motors Madison, Wisconsin The FEDERATED Insurance Companies Home Office: 121 East Park Square, Owatonna, Minnesota 55060 (507) 455-5200 • www.federatedinsurance.com MUNICH — BMW is restructuring its global sales and marketing operation as part of a strategic plan launched late last year by CEO Norbert Reithofer. A main goal of the plan is to cut costs by 6 billion euros ($8.9 billion) by 2012. In a bid to streamline and shorten decision-making, BMW has cut the number of sales regions to four: the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and rest of the world import markets. The regional managers will report to Stefan Krause, BMW’s sales and marketing chief. Kay Segler, who now heads Mini, will become the executive in charge of import markets in April. Tom Purves continues to be responsible for the Americas, David Panton will head Asia, and Marco Saltalamacchia will lead European sales. Germany no longer will be an independent sales region. The new sales chief for Germany, Philipp von Sahr, will report to Saltalamacchia. Von Sahr now manages the Frankfurt branch office. Replacements for von Sahr and Wolfgang Armbrecht, manager of the Munich branch, have not been named. Armbrecht is moving to BMW headquarters to replace Segler at Mini. Krause also has established a new area, product and service management, that will be headed by Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, currently in charge of central marketing activity. JanChristiaan Koenders will take over central marketing. From now on, Karsten Engel will be at the same management level as Mueller-Oetvoes. Engel, former head of the ATU automotive service chain, is coming back to BMW and will manage global sales channels. c http://www.thecaradstore.com http://www.thecaradstore.com http://autonewschina.com http://www.federatedinsurance.com http://www.federatedinsurance.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - March 3, 2008

Bob Nardeli's new big-idea guy New Kia boss reaches out to restless dealers Scion hits a wall Lithia losses raise caution flag Detroit 3 shun talk of NAFTA do-over Lincoln names new marketing manager Mercedes to launch hybrid sedan in '09 Mazda has new top marketing exec M-B will hit the road with 50-state diesels Pontiac puts big ad bucks into traditional media for G8 Reynolds, ADP diverge on growth strategies Ford plans to cut fleet sales 10% in 2008 Mazda: New models, styling will boost its loyalty rate Run-up to axle strike adds to supplier woes Webasto's fast heater will debut by 2010 Russian plant wants to be world's biggest A Lancer is hatched Chrysler throws out purchasing rulebook Honda sets lofty hybrid goal, with Civic's help Honda: Use of ethanol limited, must be biomass Honda CEO Fukui: No recession in U.S., despite soft sales in spots 550 hp? 620 hp? Is GM crazy? Doug Fraser was a great leader How ironic: Lyons learns caution Well done, Doug Don't let Calif. impose fuel rules on the nation Blame the dealer, not the brand Cutting weight doesn't cut safety When Lutz dumps on global warming ... JM exec Czubay: A taste for hogs, pierogi Doug Fraser: A good man to have known Fraser led UAW with 'combination of substance, politics and charm' Autonet finds success at NADA with wi-fi for cars GM to sell medium-truck business, keep dealer network Web classified ad firms renew marketing to dealers, buyers Chery designs venture's vehicles China venture eyes 20,000 Fiesta hatchback sales Toyota plans crossovers in China Dongfeng, YuAn plan minicars BMW shakes up global marketing, sales ranks Delphi divestiture boosts forging supplier Is Blackhawk purchase bucking a trend? Repair company grows as Detroit 3 struggle BorgWarner unit expands German automakers seek more parts sourced in North America Hyundai picks ArvinMeritor Japan parts firm to build Miss. plant Nissan to increase spending on IT Purchase keeps Tenn. plant open Automakers hit with apartheid claims Mexico sales flat in January Ford prices '09 Flex atop crossover line Hamp rejoins Visteon board RV deliveries decline 3.4% in December Subaru lowers Forester price Personnel Bright future for LED headlight suppliers? Valeo's Morin to Pardus: Learn before you leap German automakers aren't worried about U.S. recession Porsche's Wiedeking: We must retool VW Europe's loud debate over quieter tires Noise level depends on the tires, the road Auto industry robotics spending jumps 43% in 2007 Electronic brakes struggle to get traction Big Texas dealer returns to some domestic brands AutoNation chief sees tough '08, better '09 In downturn, Sonic looks beyond new cars GM promotes service, parts leads for dealerships 10 cool dealership technologies found at NADA Dealers Kia will build transmissions at Georgia plant Gibson leaves DealerTrack board Akebono closing Kentucky plant Feds issue Ford fire warning Magna net income drops VW to use Siemens' software A tale of 2 exhaust systems EU wants CO2 in ads; battle looms Maize malaise stalls ethanol Tata to siesta during Ford's Fiesta Honda moves its American bike offshore Honda will recycle cycle plant Tom LaSorda's multimillion-dollar smile

Automotive News - March 3, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.