Visteon

Introduction

Visteon is to the Ford Motor Company as Delphi is to General Motors and Denso is to Toyota. In 2013, Visteon had 7.439 billon dollars in sales with six billion in total assets and 24,000 employees operating worldwide. Since its independence from Ford, Visteon has set a corporate goal of expanding business with other companies, and now has substantial relationships with General Motors, Chrysler, and several Asian manufacturers including Nissan and Hyundai. Visteon's market share, market and revenue has changed substantially since it formed. A majority of revenue (80+%) came from North America, driven by its relationship with Ford Motor Company. Today, its revenue comes predominately from Asia, North America, and Europe. In 2005, Visteon moved to new headquarters in Van Buren Township, Michigan.

Business

Traditionally, Visteon participated in three main divisions, namely: climate, electronics, and interior systems. With the sale of its equity interest in the Climate operations in mid-year 2015, Visteon re-focused on the high-growth cockpit electronics business with a focus on software and the connected car. At the same time, Visteon introduced Sachin Lawande as the new CEO to lead the next phase of company growth.

Operations

The company has three corporate offices reflecting the company's key markets.

Electronics

Audio and Infotainment

Vehicle Electronics

Information and Controls

Automotive HVAC

Restructuring

On September 13, 2005, Visteon and Ford reached an agreement whereby seventeen of the less-profitable Visteon plants and six offices would be transferred to an independent business entity called Automotive Components Holdings LLC. This action, intended to assure the long-term viability of Visteon, involved the transfer of 18,000 hourly workers and 5000 salaried workers to the new entity, reducing Visteon to approximately 52,000 employees worldwide and US$11 billion in annual sales. Three of the plants are in Mexico, the remaining plants and six offices are in the US. Automotive Components Holdings (ACH), managed by Ford, was referred to as a "temporary entity", as its purpose was to prepare the plants and facilities for sale. By the end of 2007, all ACH operations had been closed, scheduled for closure, merged at least partially, or sold (two back to Ford), with transactions to be completed by the end of 2008 except for one plant which is to remain an ACH facility until its closure in 2009.

On March 31, 2009, Visteon's UK subsidiary was deemed insolvent, and placed into administration. The UK subsidiary had never been profitable, and the insolvency was the result of the US parent company being unable to continue to support the British operation. The administrators, KPMG, immediately moved to close all three Visteon UK factories and made 565 workers redundant. Visteon's profitable UK subsidiary Visteon Engineering Services (VES) remained unnaffected by the restructuring.

As a result, workers have occupied the plants in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Enfield, London and are picketing the plant in Basildon, Essex, to gain better redundancy packages.

Bankruptcy and Emergence

The Subprime mortgage crisis greatly impacted the auto industry and left Visteon with little demand. During early March 2009, Visteon was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for trading at extremely low levels. This action came after Visteon shared dropped from 7 cents, to 2 cents. On May 28, 2009, the company filed voluntary petitions to reorganize Visteon Corporation and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The case was heard in Delaware on May 29, 2009 by Judge Christopher Sontchi where Visteon was granted Chapter 11 protection.

Visteon completed its reorganization and emerged from Chapter 11 on October 1, 2010.

Acquisitions

In July 2014 Visteon acquired Johnson Controls electronics division for $265 Million.
In July 2016 Visteon acquired AllGo Embedded Systems Pvt Ltd.