Continental Purchases Motorola's Automotive Unit
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THE HANSEN REPORT ON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS. A Business and Technology Newsletter VOL. 19, NO. 4◆◆ PORTSMOUTH, NH USA MAY 2006 More Parts Branding Continental Purchases Could Pay Off Motorola’s Automotive Unit Germany’s Growing Influence would make a major acquisition, finds Last month the center of gravity of the much to like about Motorola Automotive. Saddled with high fixed costs, Ford, automotive electronics industry took an- “It’s a great fit,” Continental Automotive General Motors, Chrysler and other other shift away from Detroit—this time Systems division president, Karl-Thomas carmakers have for years been leaning on toward Germany—with the acquisition by Neumann, told us recently. “We are a their suppliers to reduce prices. As a re- Continental AG of Motorola’s automo- strong player in Europe but not in North sult, profits have suffered and a number of tive electronics business. Starting with car America, while Motorola is a strong suppliers are hurting. One way suppliers radios, Motorola had been in the automo- player in North America but not in Eu- are fighting low prices is by taking their tive electronics business for 75 years. rope.” Continental’s acquisition of case directly to consumers through long Continental paid $1 billion in cash for DaimlerChrysler’s Temic business in 2001 term investments in brand building. the business, which had $1.6 billion in put Continental into powertrain electron- Support for that idea came recently sales in 2005 and no debt. ics in Europe. Motorola is a leading inde- from an automotive market research firm Motorola had been flirting off and on pendent supplier of powertrain electronics in Nürnberg, Germany, puls GmbH, with the idea of selling its automotive in the United States. which sent us the results of some con- unit for the last six years and finally put According to Glenn Mercer, director sumer research. The data strongly support the business in play last fall. In 2004, of automotive services for McKinsey & the view that parts suppliers should invest Motorola spun off its semiconductor busi- Co., one of the things that set the buyer in programs that build brand recognition ness, now known as Freescale, the world’s apart from the seller is that “Continental and awareness directly with consumers. number-one supplier of automotive semi- is committed to the automotive industry, As part of its monthly Internet survey conductors. even though it isn’t as profitable as mak- of 2,000 German consumers, last Novem- According to insiders, the Motorola ing cell phones.” For the last few years, ber puls posed a series of questions to Automotive business unit had been Motorola’s automotive business has been gauge consumer views on ingredient part mostly profitable, making EBIT margins more profitable than most auto parts busi- branding. The German researchers found from 3% to 10%, depending on the prod- nesses. that 59.5% of respondents thought it is uct line, and growing sales at about 8% to Continental also appreciates Motor- either “very important” or “important” to 10% per year. While that growth is a few ola’s telematics business. As the key buy cars that use parts from leading sup- percent faster than the auto electronics source of OnStar, BMW Assist and pliers. The majority of those respondents, market, it wasn’t enough. Motorola LoJack hardware, Motorola is the world’s 65.1%, said it increases the quality of the wanted to see 15% annual sales growth number-one supplier in a market that car, and 44.6% said it increases the value and at least 10% EBIT margins. Continental expects will surely grow. “I’m of the car. More compelling in Motorola’s deci- still confident that sooner or later there is Turn to Branding, page 2 sion to opt out of automotive electronics, going to be a big future in telematics,” however, was the fact that it had become declared Dr. Neumann. “We want to be a In an aided question, the following percent- such a small part of the company, ac- leading and comprehensive supplier of ages of respondents said they were pre- counting for just 4% of total sales. Auto- safety systems, and the telematics emer- pared to pay more for cars that use these motive was a drain on management’s gency call business was missing,” he parts from these suppliers: attention, and there wasn’t enough syn- noted. ergy between automotive electronics and As Ford and GM shrink, and as other Brakes by Brembo 37.8% cell phones. Moreover, it can’t have American companies sell out, Detroit is Audio systems by Bose 34.9% helped that Motorola’s largest automotive steadily losing influence over the automo- Clutches by Sachs 33.7% customers were General Motors and tive electronics world, a trend that has Rims by BBS 26.0% Ford, the two carmakers most desperate to been ongoing for 20 years. The Continen- Active steering by ZF 23.8% lower their parts costs. tal acquisition of Motorola is indicative Sunroof by Webasto 17.1% Despite the seller’s disinterest in the that the trend is likely to continue. Ac- business, Continental, which had been cording to an investment banker close to Source: puls GmbH, Automotive Components Insight promising investors for months that it Trendmonitor Turn to Acquisitions, page 8 CEA Surveys Consumer Interest in Mobile Electronics recently released the results of a market research studyThe it commissioned Consumer Electronics to assess Association the current use of consumer electronics in automobiles and to gauge American con- sumers’ future interest in using these elec- tronic devices, either as a driver or passenger. The research showed falling interest levels for traditional consumer electronics such as AM/FM radio, CD players and cell phones, and a substantial growth potential for OnStar-type safety/ security/telematics systems and naviga- tion. they currently use a navigation device in the car, 47% indicatedWhile 24% they of thewould respondents be in- said terested in using one in the future. Curi- ously, 78% of the people interested in using navigation in the car would prefer that the navigation device was integrated in the car rather than portable. Note, however, that the survey question did not include any mention of the price of inte- grated systems vs. portable devices, nor how the system would Consumer preference for location of be updated throughout device controls: the life of the vehicle. Center front console 70% Steering wheel 56% survey showed future Center rear console 32% interest to be Strangely,lower the CEA Driver side door 25% than current usage for Front passenger door 24% these products: DVD Back of passenger head rest 20% players, games, TV, Back of driver head rest 17% component speakers, Rear passenger door 15% digital radio, MP3/iPod options and wireless Branding... headsets. Future inter- est in satellite radio said they would be willing to pay an add- was just 2% higher on charge for Manyparts furnishedof the German by certain consumers even than current usage and brand suppliers, namely, future interest in (37.8%), audio systems by Internet was just 3% 100 higher than current usage. and clutches by 90 others. (See the chart on page one for a 80 full list.) sumer electronics industry work with car manufacturersThe to increasestudy recommends the number that of the con- 70 We have all seen promotions for personal power outlets in their vehicles. Consum- 60 computers thatComponent boast “Intel branding Inside,” is which not at all new. 50 U.S. Consumers’ Current Usage and Respondents showed the greatest future Future Interest in Mobile CE Products led to great profits not only for Intel, but 40 interest in doing these activities while also for the manufacturers who installed 30 riding or driving in a vehicle: Intel processors in their machines. But 20 branding OEM auto parts is fairly rare. Get updates on traffic 80% Sachs 10 The few brand names that are used usually Watch/listen to weather 76% belong to the carmaker. General Motors Watch/listen to news 73% 0 Brembo Listen to satellite radio 53% Page 2, May 2006 AM/FM (33.7%), among Listen to books on tape 51% Percent of respondents who regulary use these mobile Watch/listen to sports events 44% Cell Phone devices either as a driver or passenger and percent Bose who are interested in using them in a future vehicle Instant messenger 36% CD Single Note: Consumers weren’t asked about listening brakes to AM/FM radio and/or CDs. (34.9%), CD Multi Keyless Entry has its Alarm promotes its own Component Spkrs transmission and Nasca leather uphol- stery. Mercedes advertises its DVD adaptive cruise control and OnStar ultrasonic parking system brands. ers preferred three Doutlets,igital Radi oon average, but there is extra margin to be made with younger consumers indicated they would good brands, it’s money that the prefer four. MP3/iPod carmakers want to keep, not share with telematics system. BMW Navigation parts suppliers. their preferences for device controls, 40% of the respondentsWhen preferred CEA asked a single consumers mas- about Continued from page 1 Wireless Headset ter control; 29% said they preferred two promoted by carmakers, particularly audio Steptronic system brands:Yet BMW some sells supplier brands are actively controls. Most respondents, 70%, opted to Satellite Radio Mercedes sells have the controls located in the front Safety/Security (OnStar) sells center console. tems, all of which are produced by Remote Start Current Usage the entire study, contact Joe Bates, Future Interest continued on page 8 For more information or to purchase Mark Levinson [email protected], or visit www.ce.org. Laptop automatic TV The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com Distronic Parktronic Games Harman Kardon Internet © 2006 Paul Hansen Associates, 150 T Tablet PC Pinehurst Rd., Portsmouth,A NH 03801, If HE USA.