Lear to maintain the New Trend Automotive Fabric Business

14 Jun '08

3 min read

Although Lear's investment gives it a majority ownership stake and management control in the New Trend automotive fabric business, the current management and employees will remain in place to ensure operational continuity, manufacturing expertise and existing design/development activities. Lear will maintain the New Trend brand identity, and we will refer to the business as New Trend automotive fabric by Lear.

Lear's seat system design, engineering and manufacturing expertise and global scale strongly complements New Trend's experience in automotive fabrics and footprint in Asia. In the initial phase following acquisition, New Trend will continue to focus on its core competencies and produce fabrics in China for internal consumption. At the same time, Lear will evaluate opportunities to expand New Trend's facilities and leverage this low-cost source for export to markets outside of Asia.

"We anticipate growing New Trend's fabric sales multifold over the next couple years," Salvatore continued. "Our consumer research shows European and Asian suppliers are trending toward more flat wovens, while North America has a high usage of knits. As a result, we see an opportunity to increase our market share in Asia, and further down the road, successfully launch our fabric portfolio with North American and European customers."

Lear Corporation is one of the world's largest suppliers of automotive seating systems, electrical distribution systems and related electronic products. The Company's world-class products are designed, engineered and manufactured by a diverse team of 91,000 employees at 215 facilities in 35 countries.

Lear Corporation

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