Polytec exits auto interior business

Lack of its own global footprint and high competitive pressures from a selective group of competitors with a global presence have prompted Polytec Holding AG (Hörsching, Austria) to sell of its automotive interior business to Japan's Toyota Boshoku (Kariya).

The deal will close this month and give Toyota Boshoku six new manufacturing sites in Germany, one in South Africa and one in Poland. The acquisition will operate as Boshoku Automotive Europe (Geretsried, Germany).

The European interior business currently serves major German automobile manufacturers including BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Opel The main products molded include door panels, roof liners as well as pillar trim panels. The Polytec facility in Zaragoza, Spain, will not be sold.

For its part Polytec is fully committed to expand its core business encompassing exterior parts, injection-molded products and engine components as well as motor compartment components and assemblies. Potential acquisition targets with a high strategic fit to Polytec's core business are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Polytec's interior segment generated revenues of approximately EUR340 million ($490 million) in 2010 with around 2,000 employees. Toyota Boshoku group, one of the world's premium interior systems suppliers and filter manufacturers, develops and produces interior components, filtration and power train components at its 87 operation sites all over the world. During the fiscal period ending in March of 2011, Toyota Boshoku had sales of EUR8,696 million ($12.5 billion), positioning it as the third largest interior manufacturer in the world, and the largest in Japan.-[email protected]