Switching strategies

Lear will rely more on its expertise in electrical distribution and electronics to help customers enhance vehicle safety and convenience features.

Through the 1990s, Lear made a number of acquisitions, beefed up its technical facilities, and strengthened its engineering expertise to position itself as a complete interiors supplier-a major shift from the company's beginnings in seating. A focus on interiors meant putting an additional spotlight on instrument panels, cockpits, doors, overhead systems, flooring, and acoustics.

The move beyond being a seating supplier developed as customers, particularly those in North America, started to outsource total interiors. But the business plan started to change when automakers resumed a stance of wanting to “control interiors on a micro-level, and that forced us to take a step back and really re-examine what our core business was,” said Douglas DelGrosso, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lear. The evaluation boiled down to Lear officials seeing interiors-excluding seating and electronics-going in the direction of commodity goods, which would mean minimal if any added value from the supplier side.