China Global Auto Ambitions Get a Boost as Takata Picks Bidder
- Takata steering committee recommends Key Safety Systems’ offer
- Stakeholders split on whether court-led restructuring needed
A man walks past new cars parked at a General Motors Co. (GM) Cadillac dealership in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2017. Cadillac sees 'tremendous opportunities' in third and fourth-tier cities in China, according to Andreas Schaaf, vice president of Cadillac China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergA year ago, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. would have been an unlikely name on a shortlist of candidates to rescue Takata Corp., the Japanese air-bag maker that’s behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history.
The Chinese components supplier, founded by a former TRW Automotive Inc. manager, made less than a quarter of Takata’s annual revenue, employed a workforce that’s less than half the size of its peer, and was about 70 years younger. At the same time, the costs linked to a potential bailout for Takata kept ballooning as additional defective air bags in the millions were recalled. "Takata is too big and the situation it’s facing means huge risks,” Joyson Chief Executive Officer Tang Yuxin said in an interview in March.