French automotive supplier Faurecia (Nanterre; www.faurecia.com) has acquired the passenger car-related SMC, BMC and injection-moulding activities of Sora Composites (Changé / France; www.sora-composites.fr). Financial details of the transaction, which includes the plants in Theillay and Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes as well as the administrative offices in Changé, were not disclosed. Faurecia said the two plants would form the basis of its new Automotive Composites department, part of its Automotive Exteriors business unit. The new department will be managed by Eric Laurent from Changé.

The two facilities, which employ 500 workers, last generated sales of about EUR 70m –equivalent to about 60% of Sora Composites’ total revenues of EUR 125m. The facilities mostly produce structural and body parts for PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault, but also service the premium car segment of Aston Martin, Audi Lotus and McLaren. Sora had acquired the plant in Theillay in 2009 from Ranger France (Theillay / France) – see Plasteurope.com of 11.03.2009.

Following the sale, Sora – headed by Jean Py – still operates its commercial vehicles, agricultural engineering and industrial businesses, which together account for 40% of total group revenues.

Earlier this year, Faurecia acquired Ford’s production plant in Saline, near Detroit, Michigan. Ford subsidiary Automotive Components Holding (ACH, Milan, Michigan / USA), in turn, had been awarded the site in 2006 as part of the financial restructuring of its former supplier Visteon (Dearborn, Michigan / USA; www.visteon.com).

The facility in Saline manufactures dashboards, centre consoles, door panels and other interior parts to the tune of USD 1.1 bn each year. Faurecia has touted plans to split these activities. While Saline is to retain its core injection moulding, foaming and film production activities, with a total value of USD 400m, some injection moulding activities, the assembly of interior covers and just-in-sequence deliveries are to be handled by a joint venture with Rush Group. Faurecia holds 45% of the newly founded Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS, Detroit, Michigan / USA), and Rush the remaining 55%.