Eberspaecher’s Michigan Facility Wins New Exhaust System Business

Eberspaecher Group’s North American unit says it will add production of exhaust systems—including catalytic converters and mufflers—for 11 passenger cars and trucks over the next 18 months at its Wixom, Mich., facility.

To make room for the new programs, the company is consolidating exhaust system production for heavy- and medium-duty trucks that had been done in Wixom to its newly expanded Brighton, Mich., plant. The expansion more than triples the size of the Brighton facility, which opened in 2003, from 110,000 sq ft to 340,000 sq ft, including 40,000 sq ft of office space.

The 11 new exhaust programs at the Wixom plant are for Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles models, starting with the Ford Escape small crossover vehicle earlier this year. This is in addition to several General Motors Co. exhaust programs already in production in Wixom.

Eberspaecher says it is the third-largest global producer of exhaust systems for passenger vehicles (after Tenneco and Faurecia) and the largest supplier of such systems for commercial trucks. The company also makes exhaust components for light vehicles in Alabama and South Carolina to support vehicle programs for Mercedes-Benz and BMW, respectively. Another facility in Illinois, which produced systems for the soon-to-be discontinued Dodge Dart, is being closed.

The components and manufacturing processes for exhaust systems for light vehicles and commercial trucks are very similar, notes Greg Sibley, who heads Eberspaecher North America. But he says individual applications between cars can differ greatly depending on engine specifications and a customer’s performance requirements.