Dana Wins Powertrain Component Business From BMW.(Brief Article)

Dana Corp. said it plans to design and produce front and rear differentials for a future vehicle platform made by BMW AG, expanding Dana's business with foreign automakers that have factories in North America. The systems will include a variety of features for high quality, performance, and durability, including low-transmission-error drive gears; luxury-car-type bearing diameters; low-backlash dimensional control; and vehicle-correlated end-of-line noise testing, Dana said.

Dana's business with foreign automakers is "growing significantly," company spokesman Jeff Cole said. Dana supplies parts to many foreign automakers, with the greatest percentage going to German carmaker Volkswagen and Toyota, he said. "Our goal is to grow our business so that two-thirds of (our revenues) are from outside the U.S.," Cole said. Dana's business with foreign companies' North American units would not count toward that goal, Cole said, although it would also lessen the company's exposure to the struggling Big Three.

If Dana's agreement with BMW were solely sourced outside of the United States, many of Dana's components for the platform would be exported abroad, Cole said. "I don't think BMW has made a decision yet if they're going to sole-source this or if they're going to build another plant," he said. Dana said in a statement that the program would be "based in the United States."

Dana's Traction Technologies Group, which consists of 25 manufacturing, assembly, and research facilities in 16 countries, will design and build front and rear axle components for the BMW program. Cole could not say which vehicle or type of vehicle the agreement with BMW covered, although he said the supply contract would last for the life of the platform.

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