Recaro gone bust

[Blobber]

Looks like Recaro are going down the pan

https://www.carthrottle.com/news/recaro-has-filed-bankruptcy

 

[Robotstar5]

I worked for the UK plant (Keiper Recaro) until it was bought out by Johnson Controls in 2011 and they moved seat production to Telford, we used to build seat frames for Honda & JLR.

 

[Haz87]

How depressing. Love me a Recaro seat (despite the bolster foam historically being naff and knowing I probably won't be able to source replacements shortly based on this news)
Hope they manage to get saved somehow...

 

[optima21]

they also made seats for low end models too, as the seats on my1980's polo are made by Recaro

 

[northwest]

As anyone who has sat in my copilot seat in the Astra knows, I have a set of Recaro's in that, much nicer than the stock offering. I have had Recaro racing seats on and off for a long, long time now and it would be sad to see them go but nothing lasts forever.

 

[pressbrake1]

I worked for the UK plant (Keiper Recaro) until it was bought out by Johnson Controls in 2011 and they moved seat production to Telford, we used to build seat frames for Honda & JLR.

I was offered a job at Johnson controls Dagenham in ‘97 . Poor money for breakdown repairs . Nearly chucked in the engineering nonsense at that point

 

[beeRS]

I was offered a job at Johnson controls Dagenham in ‘97 . Poor money for breakdown repairs . Nearly chucked in the engineering nonsense at that point

I visited the factory around the same time- 1997/98. I was amazed and shocked. Mass production of seats arriving to the correct car on the production line (just in time) via an overhead conveyor system that went from Johnson Controls directly into Fords factory. What shocked me was the ’sweatshop’ conditions the factory workers dealt with.

 

[Robotstar5]

I was offered a job at Johnson controls Dagenham in ‘97 . Poor money for breakdown repairs . Nearly chucked in the engineering nonsense at that point

They offered me a job at the Telford plant when they closed the Birmingham plant, it would have meant an extra 45 minutes commute for less money, I declined their offer.

 

[barracuda816]

I don’t know the extent of their oem seat manufacturing. But it’s nigh on impossible to fit aftermarket seats to almost any car made in last 20years. They are full of electronics and a lot even have airbags in the seats too. I bet that has a lot to do with their decline.

 

[RWD3M]

I wonder if that's just the Automotive arm going pop? They make aircraft seats too and that part of the company is pretty sizeable, over 2000 people apparently.

 

[hotponyshoes]

BBS wheel makers (sole supplier to Fq declared themselves insolvent last week as well...

 

[RWD3M]

BBS wheel makers (sole supplier to Fq declared themselves insolvent last week as well...

Fq

 

[tigdlo]

The shock development has come four years after the company’s purchase by Detroit-based private investment firm Raven Acquisitions.

Through separate companies and licensing deals, Recaro also produces aircraft seats, gaming chairs and child car seats.

Given the above quotes from that webpage, my guess it will only be the German based manufacturing part of the company going and the name will live on with seats being made in Asia or South America.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I don’t know the extent of their oem seat manufacturing. But it’s nigh on impossible to fit aftermarket seats to almost any car made in last 20years. They are full of electronics and a lot even have airbags in the seats too. I bet that has a lot to do with their decline.

Recaro were one of the few that sold an aftermarket seat with airbags..

I think the oem has been the biggest source of income for a good few years now. I still see plenty of people upgrading car seats but they all buy used ones from another model now rather than an aftermarket.
The track & road-racers still buy new bucket seats but although they are a high-profit item there is a lot of competition in that sector.
Might just be coincidence but a lot of recaro's oem contracts expired a few years ago. Not long before the parent company sold off the automotive arm..

I wonder if that's just the Automotive arm going pop? They make aircraft seats too and that part of the company is pretty sizeable, over 2000 people apparently.

Automotive arm was sized down and sold off a few years ago, only about 250 staff iirc
Most of the production was fully automated.
Think they had some bad contracts with oem's regarding licensing. I was in the Honda plant after that shut down and it looked like recaro were supplying (or at least setting up/programming) kit for them to make the seats themselves.

Parent company is a typical asset stripper, the recaro car child seats are not actually produced by recaro in any way. Just a few £ paid to the parent company each time some other company sews the recaro logo into one...

 

[hotponyshoes]

Fq

F1
Autocorrect...

 

[MattF]

Parent company is a typical asset stripper

Wonder how many companies have gone down the pan due to those type, over the years.

 

[northwest]

Wonder how many companies have gone down the pan due to those type, over the years.

Quite a few I would imagine. For a short while I was involved with a company that basically asset stripped floundering companies, bundled them up and sank them. I made a lot of money but one day my missus gave me the ultimatum. Stop doing it and change career or we separate, I changed direction. It was turning me into a monster, you need to be a 24 carat ar$e0le to be able to walk into a company at two on a Friday afternoon and make 120 people redundant at the taxpayers expense. Believe me no corporate money was used if it could be avoided, all the dodges and loopholes were exploited to the absolute maximum. I am not particularly proud of this part of my life but it gave me a massive insight into corporate greed and the pond life that occupy some of the top spaces.

 

[MattF]

but one day my missus gave me the ultimatum. Stop doing it and change career or we separate, I changed direction.

Wise woman & wise choice.

 

[Blobber]

A lot of us like a Recaro but this nutters got loads!

Recaro Seats | eBay

<br /><p>Prices vary £275 up </p><br /><p>South Wales np16 area </p><br /><p>Buy it now won’t get you anything </p><br /><p>See last photo</p>

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Robotstar5]

Automotive arm was sized down and sold off a few years ago, only about 250 staff iirc
Most of the production was fully automated.
Think they had some bad contracts with oem's regarding licensing. I was in the Honda plant after that shut down and it looked like recaro were supplying (or at least setting up/programming) kit for them to make the seats themselves.

I just typed a comprehensive reply about what happened to the Honda Civic seat tooling, but had to delete it in case it caused problems for the forum owner