ArvinMeritor has said it is on schedule to sell the last remaining piece of its passenger car parts business by the end of 2010, allowing the company to produce parts for commercial vehicles only.
The supplier has received a “great deal of interest” for its light vehicle body systems unit, which makes roofs and door panels, from companies in North America and overseas, chief executive Chip McClure said.
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“I feel very good about the interest we’ve seen. We’re certainly on track by the end of the calendar year to have it completed,” McClure told Reuters.
ArvinMeritor sold the bulk of its unprofitable car parts units last year in an effort to cut its ties to the more volatile passenger car market and concentrate on supplying parts to commercial vehicle manufacturers.
The light vehicle business represented 30% of its US$1.1bn sales in the October-December period, down from nearly 70% in 2003.
McClure said the company hoped to sell the body systems unit as a whole to one buyer, but did not rule out the possibility that roof panels and door panels could be sold in two separate transactions.
“We’d prefer to do it as one, but again whatever makes best sense from the customers and shareholders’ perspective we’ll do,” he told the news agency. “All options are on the table that way.”
