This uptick in China included contract awards from BYD, Leapmotor, Geely and Xiaomi in its seating business, and for both seating and e-systems at Changan and the Dongfeng Group. Overall, the company said it was awarded 19 contracts for its ComfortMax seat, ComfortFlex and FlexAir applications, with validation being completed for its first ComfortMax seat application with Ford.
Global vehicle production dropped by 1% year on year. It was down 1% in North America and 5% in Europe, but up by 4% in China.
In the fourth quarter, sales were also down, falling 2.2% to $5.71bn from the $5.84bn achieved in the same quarter the previous year, and adjusted core operating earnings down 10.4%, from $288m to $258m. Earnings were impacted by lower production on key Lear platforms, although this was partially offset by the addition of new business in both its business segments.
In the quarter, it said, global vehicle production was up 1% year-on-year, with North America down 3% and Europe down 8%, but China up 8%. On a Lear sales-weighted basis, global production was down 1%.
Looking to 2025, the company expects net sales will fall in the range $21.9 to $22.9bn, with core operating earnings between $915m and $1.17bn, This assumes that, at the midpoint of the ranges, global industry production will be down 2% on a Lear sales-weighted basis.
“This year we are in the process of selling or closing an additional five facilities primarily in Europe where we see the most excess capacity,” Scott told the company’s full-year analyst results call. “As these savings are realised through the year, we expect operational margins to improve. We continue to grow with Chinese domestic automakers and are excited to see additional progress on potential new growth opportunities with Japanese automakers.”
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