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  • Valeo profit up 20 pct on LED lights, thermal systems

    Valeo profit up 20 pct on LED lights, thermal systems

    French car parts maker Valeo said first-half profit rose 20 percent as demand for LED lighting and fuel-efficient engine systems helped sales to outpace global auto markets.

    Net income rose to 506 million euros ($588 million) from 422 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

    Revenue increased 16 percent to 9.464 billion euros, shy of the 9.558 billion expected by analysts, based on the median of nine estimates in an Inquiry Financial poll for Reuters.

    Stripping out the effects of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, the like-for-like sales gain was 9 percent, six percentage points ahead of global auto market growth.

    The results “confirm the growth and profitability potential of our innovations portfolio”, Valeo Chief Executive Jacques Aschenbroich said in the statement.

    Under Aschenbroich, Paris-based Valeo is positioned to benefit from a widespread regulatory emissions crackdown thanks to its push into electric-car and other fuel-saving technologies. It has also become a major supplier of autonomous driving systems in partnership with Israel’s Mobileye.

    Lighting and thermal systems both recorded 11 percent sales growth in like-for-like terms. Comfort and driving assistance posted 7 percent sales growth, with powertrain up 6 percent.

    Order intake – which drives future sales – rose 16 percent to 14.9 billion euros, the company said. That excludes 3 billion euros already booked by its new eAutomotive electric-car venture with Germany’s Siemens, created last December.

    Valeo reiterated full-year goals, including sales exceeding global auto demand growth by five percentage points and a slight increase in the group’s operating margin.

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  • Audi to use Valeo’s stop-start technology in sports coupe

    Audi to use Valeo’s stop-start technology in sports coupe

    Luxury carmaker Audi will introduce Valeo’s micro-hybrid “stop-and-start” systems in its RS5 sports coupe, sources told Reuters, in a sign that the Paris-based supplier may be tapping new premium demand for the fuel-saving technology.

    The contract with Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) upscale Audi division underlines increased spending by automakers on technology designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, in response to tightening standards and testing regimes.

    Volkswagen and Valeo both declined to comment.

    Unlike a typical alternator, which converts engine torque to electricity to power a vehicle’s circuitry and charge its battery, the starter-alternator can also re-start the engine in a fraction of a second.

    The Valeo system delivers fuel savings of up to 15 percent by automatically shutting down the engine whenever a car is halted by a red light or traffic, with an in-step reduction of CO2 and pollution emissions in congested cities.

    First introduced in 2004, the so-called “i-StARS” technology is a flagship product of Valeo’s 4 billion euro ($4.6 billion)propulsion systems division, with 3 million units sold.

    But launch customer PSA Group (PEUP.PA) and other volume manufacturers have since dropped it from new models in favor of beefed-up starter motors, a cheaper though less efficient stop-and-start solution.

    The i-StARS system is beginning to find new markets, however, Valeo boss Jacques Aschenbroich told Reuters. “Demand for it is continuing to grow significantly,” the CEO said, predicting double-digit percentage sales rise.

    With the mild-hybrid RS5, which went on sale this month in Germany and in France next week, Audi becomes the first German premium brand to use the technology on its current vehicle lineup.

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