Visteon Corporation has completed the sale of its Swansea, United Kingdom, operation to Canadian auto parts maker Linamar Corporation.
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The sale is part of Visteon’s three-year plan to sell non-core facilities and improve its financial performance.
In a statement, Visteon president and CEO Donald Stebbins said: “This sale is the result of significant efforts to find a viable alternative for the chassis operations at the Swansea plant, which are not aligned with [our] core product groups.”
Visteon lost US$40m on sales of $80m at Swansea last year. It expects to post a loss of about $50m in connection with the sale.
Visteon has also completed the planned closure of two non-core fuel tank facilities in Germany and ceased production at its operation in Bedford, Indiana, USA.
It will also close a fuel tank facility in Missouri early in the third quarter of 2008, after which only six restructuring actions (of 30) will remain under the plan.
Last month, the company announced it would close its interiors facility in Durant, Mississippi, and consolidate production into other existing facilities.
Stebbins noted that North America now accounts for under 30% of Visteon’s sales and that production decreases by automakers there are being “largely offset” by growth elsewhere, particularly in Asia.
“Our diversification by customer and geography, coupled with our improvement actions, has allowed Visteon to continue to improve its financial performance during the first half of 2008, despite the difficult North American market,” he said.
