ArvinMeritor Affirms Commitment to U.K. Site
TROY, Mich. (Dec. 1,
2003) — ArvinMeritor, Inc. (NYSE:
ARM) announced today that it would remain at its Fordhouse Lane
site in Birmingham, England, from which the business has operated for more than
30 years. The company currently produces passenger car latches and door
modules in the main building, and will remain there as a tenant under a
long-term lease, following the sale of the freehold. The new freehold
owners will seek a lessee for the other building, which is vacant.
Conditions of the sale were not disclosed.
“ArvinMeritor currently supplies its door system
products to a number of U.K.-based OEMs, with plans to increase penetration with
these same customers through innovations developed from Fordhouse Lane,” said
Tom Lewis, ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Systems (LVS) vice president and general
manager of Apertures. “This sale conserves our capital to better focus on our
core latch design and development capabilities. Reducing costs and
overhead structure in any way possible is a constant challenge. This
transaction is an important step toward building a strong, sustainable local
competitive advantage to better address the needs of our customers with
operations in the British Midlands.”
ArvinMeritor’s LVS Apertures division realigned its
latch manufacturing operations into one building four years ago, after
relocating a portion of its sunroof production to Germany. Today, the site
includes a technical center for designing door latches, test facilities and
manufacturing installations for latches, steel carrier plates and door modules.
ArvinMeritor’s LVS business group is a global
supplier of integrated systems and modules to the world’s leading passenger car
and light truck OEMs. With advanced technology and systems design expertise in
apertures, undercarriage and emissions control, LVS integrates high-quality
components into cost-effective, performance-based solutions available for
virtually every car and light truck on the road today.
ArvinMeritor, Inc. is a premier $8-billion global
supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components to the
motor vehicle industry. The company serves light vehicle, commercial truck,
trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers and related aftermarkets.
Headquartered in Troy, Mich., ArvinMeritor employs approximately 32,000 people
at more than 150 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries. ArvinMeritor common
stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ARM. For
more information, visit the company’s Web site at: http://www.arvinmeritor.com/.
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