ArvinMeritor, Volvo plan axle joint ventures

ArvinMeritor and the Volvo Group have announced a memorandum of understanding to create two joint ventures that would control and operate two Volvo Group manufacturing operations in Lyon, France. ArvinMeritor management would operate the two facilities – an axle plant and a foundry – beginning in 2004. Details of the agreement have not been finalized, but the arrangement would result in the manufacture and distribution of 100,000 axles annually. A portion of the non-drive axles currently made at Volvo’s Koping, Sweden, facility would be shifted to production at ArvinMeritor’s Lindesberg, Sweden, plant and to the St. Priest joint venture. AvinMeritor acquired Volvo’s commercial axle manufacturing facility in Lindesberg in 1998, and entered a long-term supply agreement with Volvo for heavy-duty drive axles as part of that transaction.