Change at the Top at Federal-Mogul, New Aftermarket Division Announced

With a changing of the guard at the top of Federal-Mogul Corporation comes the announcement that an independent aftermarket division will be created at one of the industry’s largest players.

Jose Maria Alapont will retire as the president and chief executive officer of Federal-Mogul on March 31, 2012. Alapont will remain with the company in a consulting role to assist with the transition and will also remain on the company’s board of directors through the 2013 annual meeting of shareholders. Rainer Jueckstock, currently senior vice president of the company’s powertrain energy business unit, has been elected chief executive officer effective april 1, 2012. Jueckstock will also join the company’s board of directors.

But Federal-Mogul has also decided to modify the company’s corporate structure to create a separate and independent aftermarket division and has engaged a search firm to fill the position of chief executive officer of the aftermarket division. The chief executive officer of the aftermarket division will report directly to the company’s board of directors.

Federal-Mogul’s existing aftermarket business unit is one of the largest independent global suppliers of leading, premium branded automotive parts, with global sales of US$2.3 billion in 2011.

The move comes at a time when a number of other suppliers to the aftermarket with strong original equipment ties are doing the same. TRW recently announced its reentry into the North American aftermarket, Honeywell Transportation Systems announced the creation of an aftermarket division not long after selling off its Consumer Products Group business, and Magneti Marelli also formed an aftermarket division recently.