Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
January 11, 2010 01:00 AM

NEWSCLIPS

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Ind. to host Think car assembly plant

    ELKHART, IND. — Norwegian electric carmaker Think made it official Jan. 8 and announced it will build a new assembly plant near Elkhart.

    The company already produces its plastic-body, battery-powered Think City in Uusikaupunki, Finland, at investor Valmet Automotive Inc.'s assembly plant. The new $43.5 million plant in Indiana will have capacity for 20,000 vehicles per year, with production starting in 2011, the company said in a Jan. 5 news release.

    The plant will employ up to 400 people by 2013. The Oslo-based carmaker did not mention the exact site in Elkhart County, but officials there are discussing a tax abatement for a Think plant in Goshen, Ind.

    Think's biggest investor, Ener1 Inc. of New York, makes lithium-ion battery packs for Think at its Indianapolis-based subsidiary EnerDel.

    Ener1, Valmet and other investors brought the company out of insolvency in 2008, giving Think another lease on life. Its original owner, Pivco Industries AS, ran out of funding in the late 1990s and sold it to Ford Motor Co. It passed from Ford to a series of private investment groups.

    Think boasts that its two-passenger City can travel up to 100 miles at highway speeds on a single charge. It is currently sold in Norway, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain.

    “Things are moving very swiftly for the company in Europe,” CEO Richard Canny said. “Now it's time for us to do the same in the North American market.”

    Fire razes plant, but Autoliv to rebuild

    STOCKHOLM — Auto supplier Autoliv Inc. will rebuild a steering wheel plant destroyed by fire in Tunisia within the year, even as it shifts production temporarily to France to keep deliveries on schedule.

    The company recovered more than 100 molds from the rubble of the fire, which began during the Christmas holiday shutdown in El Nadhour, Tunisia, an Autoliv executive said in a Jan. 4 news release. The Stockholm-based auto safety specialist said welding work on the building sparked the blaze.

    The plant makes steering wheels for 25 different European-made vehicles and accounts for 12 percent of all steering wheels for the European auto industry. Its production includes plastic molding and foam manufacturing.

    Autoliv said all the equipment was destroyed, but employees extracted nearly all the vital molds and shipped them to a sister plant in Poitiers, France. That site's workers and machines helped get the tools back into commission by Jan. 4.

    The company has ordered new equipment to boost production at other Autoliv sites, brought some idled machines back into use and added hours at other facilities where necessary.

    About 30 employees from Tunisia are working in France temporarily, Autoliv said. Another 700 employees responsible for sewing leather-wrapped steering wheels are continuing production at a rented facility in Tunisia.

    Korea's Lotte may buy Dow's Styron unit

    SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Lotte Co. Ltd., a South Korean conglomerate, could buy Dow Chemical Co.'s styrenics and polycarbonate business, according to a Dow Jones report.

    In July, Midland, Mich.-based Dow announced it would try to sell the business, which it dubbed Styron Corp.

    Dow Jones reported that a Lotte spokesman said Jan. 7 that the company was considering buying a controlling stake in Styron. But he said the company had not made a final decision.

    Seoul-based Lotte got its start making candy, but today has operations in food, hotels, retail, financial services, chemicals, electronics, construction, publishing and entertainment. Its chemical unit, Honam Petrochemical Corp. in Seoul, makes high density polyethylene, polypropylene and monoethylene glycol.

    According to Dow Jones, a potential deal would be valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion.

    Reliance ups offer for LyondellBasell

    MUMBAI, INDIA — Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. has boosted its offer for LyondellBasell Industries AF SCA, the world's largest polyolefins maker, according to published reports. But Rotterdam, Netherlands-based LyondellBasell still might reject the offer.

    LyondellBasell first acknowledged Reliance's offer Nov. 21, but terms of its offers have never been officially disclosed. The Wall Street Journal and India's Business Standard on Jan. 8 reported that the latest offer was for $13.5 billion, up from $12 billion. The stories quote unidentified sources.

    The WSJ story said LyondellBasell would probably reject the offer, but Mumbai-based Reliance would have until February to make another offer.

    Copyright 2010 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Plastics In Politics Live — sign up for the next live
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    2
    Connecticut AG probes recycling claims on HDPE toothpaste tubes
    3
    ACC campaign targets Biden administration's ‘regulatory overreach'
    4
    PureCycle declares force majeure following production problems
    5
    M. Holland selling 3D business after Ravago deal
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified