Magna International

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Magna International

Magna International Inc. is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
company based in Aurora, Ontario

Aurora, Ontario

Aurora is an affluent Canada town in York Region, approximately 40 km north of Toronto. It is situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine in a part of the Golden Horseshoe....
. It is Canada's largest automobile

Automobile

An automobile or motor car is a wheeled motor vehicle for transportation passengers, which also carries its own car engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally f...
parts manufacturer, and one of the country's largest companies. It also owns the successful Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr is an automobile manufacturer based in Oberwaltersdorf, Austria with its primary manufacturing location in Graz. It is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International and was previously part of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate....
automobile production company of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
.

The company was founded in 1957 by the Austrian-born Frank Stronach

Frank Stronach

Frank H. Stronach, Order of Canada is an Austrian-Canada businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp., which specializes in horse-racing entertainment....
as Multimatic. This company merged with Magna Electronics in 1969, and the combined company became Magna International in 1973.

Magna manufactures auto parts that are primarily supplied to General Motors, Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

The Ford Motor Company is an United States multinational corporation and the world's List of automobile manufacturers#World Motor Vehicle Production by Manufacturer based on worldwide vehicle sales, following Toyota, General Motors, and Volkswagen Group....
, and Chrysler LLC.

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Encyclopedia

Magna International Inc. is a Canadian

Canada

Aurora, Ontario

Automobile

Magna Steyr

Austria

Frank Stronach

Ford Motor Company

Big Three automobile manufacturers

The Big Three Automotive industry may refer to:*The three major United States automakers: General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler Group, also known as the "US Big Three" or "Detroit Big Three"....
automakers, Magna's major customers include Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen Passenger Cars, also known as VW, is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany and is the original as well as the largest brand by sales volume within the Volkswagen Group....
, BMW

BMW

, is an independent German automotive industry founded in 1916. It also produces BMW Motorrad, is the owner of the MINI brand and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars....
and Toyota. In Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, Magna Steyr holds contracts for the assembly of the Jeep Grand Cherokee

Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a mid-size monocoque sport utility vehicle produced by the Jeep division of Chrysler. European Grand Cherokees are manufactured in Austria by Magna Steyr....
, Chrysler Voyager

Chrysler Voyager

The Chrysler Voyager was a minivan marketed by Chrysler LLC in the United States from 2000-2007 exclusively as a short wheelbase model, replacing the Plymouth Voyager after Chrysler dropped the Plymouth brand — and offered only in Generation III and IV of Chrysler's five generation minivan series....
minivan and BMW X3

BMW X3

The BMW X3 is a compact SUV crossover SUV produced by the Germany automaker BMW. The X3 was the second vehicle to be classified by BMW as a BMW_Sports_Activity_Series....
SUV

Sport utility vehicle

A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing description for a vehicle similar to a station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis. Usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on or off-road ability, some SUVs include the towing capacity of a pickup truck with the passenger-carrying space of a minivan....
. Magna has a relativelely minimal presence in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
with just 3 manufacturing centres in South Korea, 1 in Kunshan,China and 2 engineering centres in South Korea and China.

Acquisitions

Magna acquired 80% of New Venture Gear

New Venture Gear

New Venture Gear, now Magna, or New Process Gear, a division of Magna International, was a joint-venture automobile transmission company set up by General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation in February 1990....
, once a joint-venture between General Motors and Chrysler, in September 2004, and combined it into Magna Powertrain. It assumed full ownership in 2007.

Magna has purchased CTS Fahrzeug-Dachsysteme

CTS Fahrzeug-Dachsysteme

CTS Fahrzeug-Dachsysteme is a supplier of convertible tops. Long a subsidiary of Porsche, that company agreed to sell it to Magna International in late 2005 for roughly $470,000,000....
, the world's leading supplier of convertible

Convertible

A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle. Many different car body styles are manufactured and marketed in convertible form....
roofs, from Porsche

Porsche

Porsche SE or Porsche is a Germany automotive industry of luxury vehicle automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Porsche family and Pi?ch families....
in November 2005.

The Sunday Telegraph (Psychic Division) in London reported January 7, 2008 that Magna International was on the short list of bidders to purchase Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill hillclimbing near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
Lagonda Limited from Ford Motor Company. Their bid was unsuccessful however, and the company instead went to a British consortium led by Dave Richards

David Richards (racing)

David Pender Richards Order of the British Empire is the chairman of Prodrive, and a former team principal of the British American Racing and Benetton Formula Formula One motor racing teams....
of Prodrive

Prodrive

Prodrive Ltd. is a motorsport and automotive engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile for companies and teams such as Subaru and Aston Martin....
for £

Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
479 million.

According to a NPR

National Public Radio

National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national Radio syndication to 797 public radio List of NPR stations in the United States....
broadcast on March 23, 2007, Magna showed interest in acquiring the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler

DaimlerChrysler

Daimler Aktiengesellschaft is a Germany car corporation and automaker as well as the largest truck manufacturer in the world. In addition to automobiles, Daimler manufactures trucks and provides financial services through its Daimler Financial Services arm....
. However on 14 May, 2007, it was announced that Cerberus Capital Management

Cerberus Capital Management

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by -year-old financier Steve Feinberg....
had won the acquisition bid for $7.4 billion.

In April 2008, Magna's wholly owned subsidiary, Cosma International, announced that they were buying the Ogihara America Corp. stamping plant in Birmingham, Alabama, that makes parts for Mercedes-Benz and other automakers.

Operations

Magna employs 83,000 employees at 240 manufacturing operations in 24 countries around the world. Magna supports these operations with 62 engineering and R&D centres in 14 countries.

Race to develop vehicles

Magna International Inc. has joined the race to develop a plug-in hybrid car and plans to have a prototype on the road next year or in 2010.

It can supply any or all of the electric vehicle subsystems, as well, it will have a vehicle concept that it could supply to a carmaker .

Political connections

The firm is also known for its political connections, such as having former Premier

Premier

A premier is a title for the head of government in some countries.In many nations, the title "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister": for example, the "Italy Premier" is the same person as the "Italian President of the Council of Ministers"....
s of Ontario of every stripe on its board, as well as connections with numerous other former politicians. Some politicians who have had notable positions with Magna include Mike Harris

Mike Harris

Michael Deane Harris was the twenty-second Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and significant cuts to some government programs....
and Brian Tobin

Brian Tobin

Brian Vincent Tobin, Queen's Privy Council for Canada is a Canada politician....
. In 1988, Frank Stronach ran as a candidate for parliament

Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada is Canada's legislature, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The Governor General of Canada appoints the 105 members of the upper house, the Canadian Senate, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada....
for the federal Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party is positioned in the centre-left of the Politics of Canada....
, but was soundly defeated.

In 2004, Stronach's daughter and former company head Belinda Stronach

Belinda Stronach

Belinda Caroline Stronach, Queen's Privy Council for Canada is a Canada businessperson, philanthropist and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 2004 to 2008....
tried to purchase the leadership of the Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Tories, is a major political party in Canada, formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada....
. While she failed in her bid for the leadership of the party, she was elected in her riding (Newmarket-Aurora) in the 2004 federal election. In order to further her career, in May 2005 she switched to the Liberal Party and was appointed to cabinet. In the Federal Election of January 23, 2006 Belinda Stronach won the Newmarket-Aurora riding for the Liberal Party. Due to rules in place for the following 2006 Liberal Party leadership race, she would have been prevented from using large donors from her business contacts to effectively buy that leadership race either. She instead decided to sit the contest out, and on April 11, 2007 announced she would no longer run in the next election as an MP in parliament. She continued to sit as an MP until the fall of 2008, when she took her ball and went home.

On March 18, 2005, former United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
ambassador to Canada and former Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the Executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, a governor may be the title of each appointed or elected politician who governs a constitutive state....
, Paul Cellucci

Paul Cellucci

Argeo Paul Cellucci is an United States politician and diplomat, former Governor of Massachusetts, and former Ambassador to Canada....
, joined Magna as a vice-president of its entertainment division. Cellucci resigned his position on July 5, 2006.

The Magna Budget

Magna International has also been noted for its connections to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and the Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario Liberal Party

The Ontario Liberal Party is a centrist provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It currently forms the Government of Ontario since the Ontario general election, 2003....
. In 2003, the Progressive Conservatives under Ernie Eves

Ernie Eves

Ernest Lawrence Eves was the twenty-third List of Ontario Premiers of the province of Ontario, Canada, from April 15, 2002, to October 23, 2003....
presented the provincial budget at a Magna plant leading to accusations that the government was violating centuries of parliamentary tradition. It is believed that this decision had a negative impact on the Progressive Conservatives in the next provincial election.

Finance

Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. announced on May 1, 2008 it posted lower net income but higher total sales during the first quarter. Magna recorded net income of $207 million, down from net income of $218 million during the same quarter a year ago.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed persons who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. The body sometimes has a different name, such as board of trustees, board of governors, board of managers, or executive board....
of Magna International are: William Fike, Manfred Gingl, Mike Harris

Mike Harris

Frank Stronach

Franz Vranitzky

Franz Vranitzky is a former Austrian politician of the SP? party . He was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 until 1997.From 1976 to 1984, Vranitzky was director of several banks and Minister of Finance until 1986....
, and Siegfried Wolf.

The board of directors of the company formerly included Belinda Stronach. Siegfried Wolf's pay for the 2004 fiscal year was $4.78 million USD

United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
.

Sponsorships

Magna was the principal sponsor of FK Austria Wien

FK Austria Wien

FK Austria Wien is an Austrian football club which plays in the capital, Vienna. They are the champions of the 2005/06 Austrian Bundesliga. In English, they are commonly referred to as Austria Vienna....
, one of Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
's two major soccer clubs.

Magna International

Acquisitions

Operations

Race to develop vehicles

Political connections

The Magna Budget

Finance

Corporate governance

Sponsorships

See also

External links