ABC plus YAPP equals new alliance for plastic fuel tanks

The new alliance was formed just a few weeks after automotive systems supplier Plastic Omnium (PO) informed Solvay, its 50:50 JV partner in the Inergy Automotive Systems business, that PO wants to acquire Solvay's stake in the automotive fuel systems specialist. The purchase would make Plastic Omnium sole owner of the world's largest supplier of integrated fuel tank systems.

Inergy in 2005 tried to buy a 55% stake in YAPP, and that deal seemed near completion before YAPP announced it intended to remain independent. YAPP claims to have better than 50% market share of plastic fuel tank sales to China's domestic car manufacturers, and also counts many major foreign-owned automotive OEMs as customers including VW, Audi, GM, Ford, PSA, Hyundai and Kia. The company is a solid buyer of large blowmolding machinery from Kautex, as reported here.

ABC (Gallatin, TN) and YAPP (Yangzhou, China) say their alliance will serve automotive OEMs in North America, Europe and Asia. "ABC is very pleased to be aligning with YAPP, the leading fuel system supplier in Asia," said Marius Sipos, VP at ABC Group Fuel Systems Inc. "Given the trend towards global automotive platforms, the alliance with YAPP is part of ABC's overall strategy to develop strong alliances in key markets to ensure long-term global growth."
 
YAPP was founded in December 1988 and now has eight processing plants in China, one plant in India, one plant in Australia and one plant in Russia.  ABC Group Fuel Systems Inc., established 10 years later, manufactures more than 1 million multi-layer plastic fuel tank assemblies for automotive and non-automotive original equipment manufacturers per year. Its parent company, ABC Group Inc., is one of North America's top tier one automotive parts suppliers. It has a significant manufacturing presence throughout North America and in Europe. —Matt Defosse