Some Auto Suppliers May Liquidate Investor Ross Says (Update1)
Some Auto Suppliers May Liquidate, Investor Ross Says (Update1)
By Bill Koenig
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — Some auto-parts companies may be
forced out of business as auto sales fall in 2008, billionaire
investor Wilbur Ross said.
“I believe that the result will be the liquidation of one
or more of the large, walking-wounded suppliers and that plant
closures will finally reduce the excess capacity,;; Ross said in
a speech in Detroit.
Ross didn;t name a supplier. He said U.S. sales of cars and
light trucks may fall as much as “three-quarters of a million;;
vehicles this year. Such sales fell by 407,612 vehicles to 16.1
million in 2007. “We also believe we are slipping into a
consumer-led recession,;; Ross said.
Ross, through his International Automotive Components Group
North America LLC, has been accumulating holdings in the auto-
parts sector, including purchasing units from Collins %26amp; Aikman
Corp., which is liquidating in bankruptcy, and Lear Corp.
Auto-parts companies in North America have been
restructuring since 2005, in part because of declining U.S. sales
and market share at U.S.-based automakers General Motors Corp.,
Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
Delphi Corp., spun off by GM in 1999, filed for bankruptcy
protection from creditors in 2005. Visteon Corp., a former Ford
auto-parts unit, was bailed out by its former parent the same
year. Ross did not bid on Delphi.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Bill Koenig in Detroit, at
