In the realm of manufacturing, quality reigns supreme. Whether it’s automotive components, electronic enclosures, or consumer goods, the reliability and performance of products hinge upon the precision and integrity of their parts. In this context, die casting emerges as a …
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Category Archives: Auto Parts
Chrysler Financial pays off $1.5B in TARP loans
Chrysler Financial pays off $1.5B in TARP loans
by The Associated Press
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Chrysler Financial, the former financing arm of automaker Chrysler LLC, said Tuesday that it has repaid in full its $1.5 billion in government loans.
The funds used to repay the TARP loans were obtained through the completion of an automotive asset-backed securitization. Chrysler Financial said its original TARP loan contained provisions that increased its costs over time, motivating the company to pay off the loan quickly.
Amid tight credit markets, Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler Financial secured the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, funding in January so it would be able to offer more loans to more consumers.
The hope was that by doing so, the increased loan availability would spur more vehicle sales at Chrysler and help keep the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker out of bankruptcy protection.
Chrysler Financial said it used the TARP money to fund more than 85,000 consumer loans for purchases of Chrysler vehicles.
Chrysler Financial served as Chrysler LLC’s preferred lender until the automaker filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year and it was replaced by GMAC Financial Services as part of the government-backed restructuring of the automaker.
As Chrysler’s preferred lender, GMAC is allowed to provide showroom financing to Chrysler dealers and has the right to exclusively offer certain discounted financing rates to Chrysler customers.
Chrysler Financial continues to offer dealership insurance and financial products to consumers. It has a loan portfolio of $45 billion.
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GM’s Volt electric vehicle plans a go regardless of bankruptcy
GM’s Volt electric vehicle plans a go regardless of bankruptcy
by Eric English | The Saginaw News
No matter what happens with General Motors Corp.’s bankruptcy filed in New York today, a company official says the Volt electric vehicle project is still moving in high gear.
And that could be good news for GM factories and suppliers operating in the Great Lakes Bay Region and Flint.
GM plans to build the 4-cylinder gas engine for the Volt at a GM factory in Flint. It also has hinted that it plans to use Bay City’s GM Powertrain factory to produce parts for the project.
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While bankruptcy could drastically change the auto giant, the Volt remains a top priority, said Dave Darovitz, a GM spokesman in Detroit for the project.
“Absolutely, the Volt is still on track to start production in late 2010,” Darovitz said. “There is no slippage in time as it relates to what’s going on with our company. It’s still the No. 1 product at GM.”
GM estimates that the Volt engine would preserve 300 jobs in Flint. The company won state tax credits valued at $132.5 million over 15 years for a plan to make Volts using five GM facilities in Michigan: Flint, Bay City, Pontiac, Detroit and Warren.
GM has not announced any anticipated Volt-related production work for its Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, which makes aluminum engine blocks and heads.
And to date, the corporation has only announced specific plans for using Flint as an engine source for the Volt.
GM also expects to manufacture the batteries that power the car in Michigan, Darovitz said. An announcement is pending, he said. Darovitz said he could not address when GM may announce work for other plants, referring questions to GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel at GM Powertrain in Warren.
“We have not made any announcements beyond Flint,” Basel said today. “The project is on time. There’s no change to that.”
Bay City Mayor Charles Brunner is one person waiting with high hopes for Volt work coming to the region.
“I’m still hopeful they are going to get that work,” he said.
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ALUMINUM AUTO PARTS
ALUMINUM AUTO PARTS. The human history can be very conveniently divided into epochs or ages such as the ancient stone, the Iron Age, or the copper age. These ages have been called so because of the kind of metal or element which was dominating all the major architecture and other structures of that particular period of time. Going further on those lines we can say that the present is sort of like the aluminum age. Aluminum has become the new replacement to almost all the other metals, be it utensils or airplanes. One major use which aluminum has found for itself is the manufacture of various automobile parts. Here is guide to what makes aluminum such a sorted after raw material for cars and other automobiles.
WHY ALUMINUM?
If we do a careful survey of the market of the automobile parts we will find that more and more companies have switched over to aluminum as the primary material to make the auto parts.
Aluminum is a wiser choice because as compared to other alloys and metals, the automobile outer body made out of aluminum is almost one-third in weight. Now lighter cars are what the companies are aiming at and that’s what they are getting by using aluminum. Apart from external use the metal is also being used in conduction of electric currents inside the autos. Aluminum is better conductor of heat and electricity than copper and hence the risks of the wires getting overheated are also reduced considerably.
The best part about using aluminum for making auto parts is that is highly resistant to corrosion. Automobile engines and other inner as well as outer parts are particularly vulnerable to this degradation and aluminum provides the perfect protection.
So whenever you are buying your ride make sure it’s got aluminum parts inside and outside to guarantee maximum output.
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Revstone and KPS Portfolio Co. Goes for Metaldyne Assets
Hephaestus Holdings looks to buy the auto parts maker’s powertrain assets while Revstone looks to capitalize on chassis operations buy.
By JONATHAN MARINO
July 28, 2009
A pair of private equity firms are vying for separate parts of Metaldyne Corp. assets; Hephaestus Holdings, a KPS Capital company, and Revstone will look to buy much of the bankrupt auto parts maker’s chassis business.
The automotive sector, virtually across the board, wears tire tracks on its back after being especially hard hit during the recession. GM’s and Chrysler’s respective bankruptcies set off a chain of events affecting companies serving them from parts makers to GPS trackers.
Revstone has been making distressed acquisitions lately; earlier this year, it bought six plants from bankrupt auto parts maker Contech.
Hephaestus was approved as a stalking horse bidder for powertrain assets by a New York bankruptcy court and Revstone was approved to make the chassis operations bid; auctions will commence August 5 with bids due two days earlier.
Hephaestus wants to buy Metaldyne’s sintered products, European forgings and vibration controls products operations located in Europe, Asia, Brazil, Mexico and America. A Hephaestus affiliate looks to buy Metaldyne’s Bluffton, Ind.; Litchfield, Mich., and, subject to certain conditions, the Twinsburg, Ohio, plant. KPS Capital Partners will provide Hephaestus with a significant, yet unspecified, cash investment to support letters of credit and working capital.
Separately, Revstone is bidding on the purchase of Metaldyne’s chassis operations in Edon, Ohio; Greensboro, N.C.; Barcelona, Spain, and Iztapalapa, Mexico. The auction date for that segment will be August 3, with bids due July 31.
Revstone and Hephaestus are not the only two bidders for Metaldyne’s parts, however. RHJ International initially submitted a bid, which was trumped by Hephaestus, and a Carlyle bid was beat by Revstone. Calls were not returned by press time.
Metaldyne had 2008 revenue of $1.57 billion.
Metaldyne’s Balance Shaft Module and Tubular businesses are being marketed by the investment banking firm Donnelly Penman & Partners. Metaldyne’s Powertrain and Chassis operations are being marketed by Lazard.
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Auto Parts Supplier Cooper-Standard Filed Chapter 11
NOVI, MICH. (Aug. 5, 1:15 p.m. ET) — The parent company of Novi, Mich.-based auto supplier Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 4, saying it can’t pay back its $1.17 billion in debt.
Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. and its U.S subsidiaries filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., making it the 17th major U.S. auto supplier to file for bankruptcy protection this year, according to Automotive News.
The company, which has about 16,000 employees worldwide, makes door, body and sunroof seals and fluid handling systems. It ranks No. 65 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $2.60 billion in 2008.
It blames the downturn in U.S. auto sales for its troubles, and said it will continue to operate as it works out a restructuring plan with its creditors.
The plan under discussion now would reduce Cooper-Standard’s debt to $350 million, the company said.
Cooper-Standard’s largest unsecured creditors include Delaware-based Wilmington Trust Co. ($313 million senior note and $200 million senior note), Ohio’s environmental protection agency ($2.7 million) and Farmington Hills-based Robert Bosch LLC ($713,782), according to the bankruptcy filings.
“The company intends to continue operating ‘business as usual’ during the reorganization process and anticipates no interruption in its supply to customers,” Cooper-Standard said in a statement.
Some current lenders have agreed to provide Cooper-Standard with up to $175 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval.
Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Ltd. will seek relief under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, the company said in a statement.
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