For BorgWarner Inc., 2020 was to be a year of strategic restructuring to prepare for a new decade of technology. The powertrain and drivetrain supplier intended to shift its focus from power electronics and propulsion to electrification.
But the coronavirus pandemic has required some agile steps to stay on track.
BorgWarner's pending $1.5 billion acquisition of Delphi Technologies nearly hit a wall when BorgWarner said Delphi had breached terms of their deal by drawing down all of its available credit — about $500 million — to stabilize its balance sheet during the pandemic.
The two suppliers said Wednesday, May 6, they resolved a snag in the transaction and were working to close the transaction in the second half of the year.
Soon after, a tornado damaged BorgWarner's vital transfer case plant in Seneca, S.C., raising the risk of production interruptions for a number of manufacturers calculating factory restarts. The plant supplies Ford's four-wheel-drive pickups and large SUVs, including the F-150, as well as Toyota's North America-made trucks. Through a determined rebuilding effort, BorgWarner resumed limited production at the plant Monday, May 4, narrowly avoiding a U.S. supply chain disruption.
