Magna International

In 1957, Frank Stronach founded Multimatic Investments Ltd in a tool-and-die rented garage out of Toronto.[10] Its first automotive industry contract for metal sun visor brackets was with General Motors in 1959.[11]

By the late 1960s, the company was operating in eight plants. Stronach took Multimatic Investments public in 1969 through a merger with Magna Electronics Corporation, an aerospace, defense and industrial components company, and became known as Magna International in 1973.[10]

The company developed an employee equity participation and profit-sharing program in 1974. By 1981, Magna had sold its aerospace and defense operations to focus on the automotive industry. It began decentralizing major systems into independent, publicly-traded companies during the 1990s, while expanding into Asia.[12]

Magna began designing automotive rearview cameras for Hummers in 2005 on its production line in Michigan, which were not a federal requirement at the time. It was one of the first to develop rearview cameras for automakers, and had a 350,000 unit contract by 2007. The company has produced more than 46 million components and opened a $66.5 million plant to produce cameras and driver-assistance components.[13][14]

In February 2015, Samsung SDI agreed to purchase the battery pack business from Magna Steyr, an Austrian operating unit of Magna International, for $120 million.[15] Magna International partnered with Argus Cyber Security after joining in a 2015 Series B funding round to access the company's security technology.[16] The company sold its interiors business, which includes door and instrument panels, overhead systems and cargo management parts, to Grupo Antolin in August 2015. The sale to Grupo Antolin included 36 plants and 12,000 employees in Europe, North America and Asia, about 10 percent of the Magna's global workforce at the time. The operations generated sales of $2.4 billion in 2014.[17]

In March 2018, Magna announced they will work together with the ride-share company Lyft to supply high-tech kits that turn vehicles into self-driving cars. The company invested $200 million into the project and both parties will jointly own the intellectual property developed. It was also noted that Magna will be Lyft's exclusive supplier of self-driving kits.[18] Magna announced a partnership with BAIC Group in June 2018 to develop "next-generation" smart electric vehicles for Chinese consumers.[12]

Magna International is headquartered in Aurora, Ontario and has 338 manufacturing operations and 89 product development, engineering and sales centres in 28 countries. Its United States operations are headed out of Troy, Michigan with its European head office in Vienna, Austria.[19] Donald Walker is its chief executive officer and has been working with Magna since 1987.[20]

Magna is governed under a corporate constitution, and requires consensus from management, shareholders and employees to make any changes. The company shares 10 percent of pretax profits with its employees.[10] As of 2019, the company has 169,000 employees.[9]

During its history, Magna International has worked with automakers to advance vehicle safety and technology such as smart mobility seating systems including stow-into-floor minivan seats, exterior systems including reaction injection moulding (RIM) bumpers, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), blind-spot detection and lane departure warning systems.[29] The company is the largest automobile parts supplier in North America and the third largest worldwide.[30]

It uses mobility technology to develop customized computing for fully automated driving systems.[30] In 2018, it introduced an Icon radar system to help automakers reach Level 5 autonomy as well as automatic emergency braking systems.[31] Magna has partnered with BMW on electrification to produce electric cars on a contract basis.[32] The company is also known for using new materials for "lightweighting" vehicles.[33] Goldman Sachs has reported that automated features developed by suppliers such as Magna will produce a 42 percent compound annual growth rate in global revenue over the next decade.[29]

Magna has also been recognized with several Automotive News PACE Awards for its innovations. Magna technologies that received PACE Awards in recent years include its BlindZone outside mirror (2009), Infinity rearview mirror (2012), laser-welded, hot-stamped door ring (2014, in partnership with Honda and ArcelorMittal) and PureView seamless sliding window (2015).

The company supplied the complete electric drivetrain on the Ford Focus Electric, which was awarded the 2011 Green Car Vision Award at the 2011 Washington Auto Show.[34]

In 2015, Magna's SmartLatch, an industry-first, 100 percent electronic door latching system, was named a finalist for the 2016 Automotive News PACE Awards.[35]

Bloomberg has called Magna International the "world's largest contract manufacturer of vehicles".[36]

• Official website