Visteon Corp. is now the majority shareholder of one of Russia’s leading cockpit electronics suppliers. The Van Buren Township-based company raised its equity stake in Visteon Avtopribor Electronics from 49 percent to 68.8 percent.
“Russia remains one of the most attractive automotive markets in Europe and since its inception Visteon Avtopribor Electronics has successfully maintained a double-digit growth rate,” says Steve Meszaros, president of Visteon Electronics.
Established in 2010, Visteon Avtopribor Electronics is a joint venture between Visteon and one of Russia’s largest automotive suppliers, Avtopribor. The venture supplies a range of cockpit electronics products to global and local vehicle manufacturers including Ford Motor Co., Renault-Nissan, and Russia-based GAZ.
Overall, Visteon generated $13.8 billion in sales in 2012 and employed approximately 55,000 people at facilities in 29 countries. Visteon Avtopribor Electronics is located 105 miles east of Moscow and has 190 employees.
Also this week, Northville-based Gentherm, a global developer and marketer of thermal management technologies, owns all of the outstanding shares of W.E.T. Automotive Systems AG. Gentherm will now begin to delist W.E.T. as a publicly trade company in Germany.
“As a result, W.E.T. will no longer be subject to and have to bear the expense of the separate reporting requirements for public companies in Germany,” says Daniel R. Coker, president and CEO of Gentherm. “The integration of the two companies is moving forward, and we are very pleased to have this important step of the process completed and behind us.”
