Brose Group concludes acquisition of Continentals electric motor operations

The Brose corporate group officially concluded the acquisition of Continental AG’s electric motor operations on April 1st.

Besides window regulator motors, Brose will develop and produce drives for ABS/ESP, heating/ventilation (HVAC), engine cooling, electric steering, sunroofs, double clutches (DCT) as well as parking brakes.

Given the automakers’ tougher requirements with regard to increasing energy efficiency and subsequently reducing pollutant emissions, Brose sees strong future growth in motors for electric steerings as well as automated manual transmissions.

The worldwide production network comprises locations in Europe, North/ South America and Asia as well as development and competence centers in Germany: in Nuremberg, Brose has a development office for cooling fan electronics; in Oldenburg, there is a center of competence for cooling fan fluid dynamics.

The business division Drives is based in Würzburg; the largest electric motors plant is also located here. In addition to production facilities, cooling fan module development is primarily located in Berlin.

Other production sites are located in La Suze/France, Trutnov/Czech Republic, Gainesville/USA, Reynosa/Mexico as well as in Budapest/Hungary, Salto/Brazil, Shanghai, Zhangjiagang and Changchun (all China). The transfer for these locations will take place in the next few weeks.

“With the acquisition of the electric motor operations from Continental AG, we wish to further expand our competence as a specialist in mechatronic systems for the body and interior of the car. Our aim is to offer our customers an optimum price/performance ratio in terms of technology, quality and service,” said Jürgen Otto, CEO of the Brose corporate group.

Reinhard Kretschmer (52) was appointed head of the new business division by the Brose shareholder meeting on April 1st, 2008. Kretschmer is responsible for the worldwide drive business, and is a member of the Brose management board alongside Kurt Sauernheimer (Door Systems), Periklis Nassios (Seat Systems) and Torsten Greiner (Closure Systems).

The restructuring and integration of the acquired company areas at Siemens VDO and Conti, which has already begun, will be consistently pursued to further improve competitiveness of the electric motor business.

By acquiring this new business segment, the Brose Group now numbers more than 14,000 employees at 51 locations and generates a turnover of 3.1 billion euros. Subsequently, the Brose Group ranks fifth among family-owned automotive suppliers.