Engine filter and suspension component producer Sogefi says it is not ruling out attempting to enter the South Korean and Japanese markets, but highlights the current impasse in breaking through.
Sogefi currently has no presence in either Asian market given the level of control exerted by vehicle manufacturers and while it recognises the difficulties of succeeding, is evaluating any potential entry.
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“We try to talk to OEMs in Japan and South Korea to form joint ventures with local players and we were unsuccessful,” Sogefi CEO Emanuele Bosio told just-auto at the EquipAuto show in Paris. “I feel we were not successful because owners of Korean companies [for example] need [a] green light from their customers to realise this form of co-operation – probably they did not achieve the green light.
“Japan car makers have quite often a shareholder presence in their suppliers, so [in] the two markets there is no real freedom to go for suppliers.”
Bosio is also on the steering committee of Europe’s supplier association CLEPA and says the Brussels-based body can help in the matter, but he noted in the end any move has to be generated by internal commercial departments.
“CLEPA could help but at the end of the story, if you want to form a joint venture it is your company and your merger and acquisition team that has to work,” he said. “CLEPA could help in terms of benchmark[ing] and organising conference[s]. “But it is not enough – the association has mainly its mission [as] a lobby in Brussels – it is not a commercial orientation.”
Despite those difficulties, the Sogefi chief told just-auto he saw South Korea as a possibility although he conceded Japan was “a little bit more difficult”.
