From Bloomberg, MEMA Industry News
DEARBORN, MI — Visteon Corp., the second-biggest U.S. maker of auto parts, dropped its plan to sell a Chicago factory to Plastech Engineered Products Inc. because the companies couldn’t agree on terms, a Visteon spokesman said.
The spokesman, Jim Fisher, wouldn’t provide details. Carla O’Neill, of the Plastech marketing and communications department, wouldn’t comment and said no executives were available to speak. The plant delivers parts to a Ford Motor Co. factory across the street.
Visteon, based in Van Buren Township, Mich., announced the sale in August as a way to cut costs and help end annual losses after being spun off from Ford in 2000.
Ford and other automakers are trying to increase business with minority suppliers. Julie Brown, CEO of closely held Plastech in Dearborn, Mich., is a Vietnamese immigrant and her company is the largest woman-owned company in Michigan.
The Chicago factory’s 270 workers assemble front end, cockpit, fuel storage and air conditioning components. Ford began assembling the Mercury Montego and Ford Freestyle and Five Hundred vehicles at the plant in July.
Visteon expects to lose more than the $90 million to $105 million previously forecast in the third quarter because of Ford production cuts, the supplier said last month. Visteon is scheduled to announce its earnings Today.
Ford CFO Don Leclair told investors in a conference call that the No. 2 U.S. automaker is talking with Visteon about their future relationship. He declined to provide details. About 72 percent of Visteon’s sales go to Ford.
Under a 2003 agreement with the United Auto Workers, Visteon is sending longtime workers who earn $26 an hour back to Ford and replacing them with newly hired workers who make $14. The transfers are occurring at a slower pace than expected, Visteon said last month.
_______________________________________
Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.
