Lear Renames Electrical Business “E-Systems”

Auto interiors giant Lear Corp. has renamed its electrical operations "E-Systems" and plans to grow the business at a rate of five percentage points better per year than overall market growth through early next decade.

Lear says the new name better reflects the increasing complexity of automotive electrical systems and Lear’s expanded capabilities in electrical architectures and vehicle connectivity. The company now employs more than 600 software engineers globally and claims 21 “first-to-market innovations” over the last four years.

The E-Systems business provides complete electrical architecture expertise and signal and data management capabilities, including connected gateways, wireless capabilities and related software and hardware, acording to Lear. Products range from wire harnesses, terminals and connectors, electronic modules, 48-volt systems, battery chargers, power converters and inverters to wireless capabilities, software, cybersecurity, lighting modules and audio components.

Last year the company acquired Arada Systems Inc., a Troy, Mich.-based firm that provides vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems. Lear also purchased the intellectual property and technology from California’s Autonet Mobile Inc., which specializes in software and telematics applications.

The deals give it the ability to process signals and data within and outside of vehicles, Lear says. To this end, the company is developing an integrated system that will connect vehicles to other vehicles, the infrastructure and cloud computing.