BMW obviously was caught by surprise by VW’s decision to acquire 8.18% of the shares in carbon fibre manufacturer SGL Carbon (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.sglcarbon.com). The purchase makes VW the second largest investor in SGL, hot on the heels of SKion, the holding company of BMW majority shareholder Susanne Klatten, who owns 22.25% of the carbon producer. Machinery manufacturer Voith controls another 5.12% of shares – not an insignificant fact considering that Voith recently entered into a partnership with VW subsidiary Audi.

BMW is linked to SGL by virtue of its common carbon fibre joint venture SGL Automotive Fibers (Moses Lake, Washington / USA) – see Plasteurope.com of 09.04.2010. The carbon fibre manufacturer is to supply BMW exclusively. “The latest transaction in no way influences these common activities,” media cite BMW chief executive Norbert Reithöfer. As far as BMW majority shareholder Klatten is concerned, German media quote her as saying that should a control stock become necessary, SKion would increase its stake in SGL.

The skirmish illustrates just how important carbon fibres are for the future development of ever lighter vehicle bodies. Every player wants and in fact needs to get in on the action – preferably as the first and at reasonable prices. Daimler is cooperating with Toray to that effect, while Zoltek was burnt by its experiences as a partner of BMW and has so far abstained from entering into another cooperation. As for Mitsubishi Rayon, the Japanese company is cooperating with SGL – which means that three of the world’s eight producers in effect are out of the race already.

Still undecided is Teijin subsidiary Toho Tenax – but this could be explained by the fact that the Japanese player is the only manufacturer that has ventured into producing prepregs and even parts themselves as opposed to focusing solely on the manufacture of fibres.