In August, the MAHLE Group acquired all the shares in the former joint venture Behr Thermot-tronik Italia S.p.A. (BTTI), which has been renamed MAHLE Behr Grugliasco S.p.A. with immediate effect. The former shareholders, MAHLE Behr Kornwestheim GmbH and Valtri S.p.A., jointly agreed to this step in order to pursue the long-term, future-oriented focus and successful ongoing development of BTTI.
At its headquarters in Grugliasco near Turin in northern Italy, the company develops and produces a broad range of thermostat products for use in all vehicle classes. The employment contracts of the currently around 120 employees are expected to remain unchanged, and no physical relocations are planned. “We are delighted that the employees of BTTI will now belong fully to MAHLE. Their skills and experience will secure the successful development of MAHLE Behr Grugliasco and therefore also of MAHLE,” says Bernd Eckl, Member of the Management Board and responsible for the Thermal Management business unit at MAHLE.
BTTI’s products are already an important component of MAHLE’s portfolio, as complex thermal management tasks within the vehicle can only be realized by intelligently controlling the energy flows that arise. Control systems such as map controlled thermostats ensure precise temperature regulation tuned to meet demand and thus promote more efficient operation, reduced consumption, less wear, and lower emissions.
“Aside from the technological aspect, MAHLE also benefits from the BTTI team’s excellent reputation, extensive expertise, and outstanding customer relationships in the Italian market. This applies both to the original equipment and the spare parts businesses,” says Arnd Franz, Member of the Management Board and responsible for Automotive Sales and Application Engineering as well as for the Aftermarket business unit at MAHLE.
As a result of the acquisition, the Italian thermostat specialist will now benefit fully from the systems competence and global network of the MAHLE supplier group.
“For us, it was important to offer employees long-term, future-oriented prospects. We believe that MAHLE’s acquisition offers the best opportunity for BTTI to continue developing successfully,” says Franco Triberti, representative of the former shareholder family.
In turn, MAHLE is expanding its strategically significant thermal management product portfolio. Efficient thermal management is becoming increasingly important, irrespective of the powertrain configuration. In internal combustion drives, the cooling system plays an important part in making vehicles even more efficient. For electric vehicles, the economical use of hot and cold flows is the basis for performance, cruising range, and service life. Integrated, efficient, and intelligent thermal management is therefore a prerequisite for e-mobility.
Behr Thermot-tronik Italia was created in 1997 from Behr Thomson Italia. Since it was founded, the joint venture has worked closely with Behr Thermot-tronik’s other entities. These have already been fully integrated in the MAHLE Group for some time as part of MAHLE’s majority acquisition of Behr in 2013.
SOURCE: MAHLE
