Continental, Osram Plan Lighting Products JV

Continental and Osram announce plans to form a 50-50 joint venture to develop, manufacture and market intelligent lighting products for the automotive industry.

The global JV will operate as a standalone company under the name Osram Continental and have its registered office in the Munich region. It is scheduled to start in 2018 subject to agreement on binding contracts, consent of each company’s supervisory board and regulatory approvals, the companies say in a news release.

Osram will transfer its automotive Solid State Lighting module business to the JV, while Continental will incorporate its light-control business from the Body & Security business unit. This will allow Osram Continental to combine semiconductor-based lighting modules, advanced electronics, optics and software expertise with access to sensor technology and innovative light sources, and enable the JV to offer a broad range of technologies designed especially for headlight and taillight applications.

The aim is to generate annual sales in the mid-triple-digit-million-euro range with a workforce of about 1,500 employees and 17 locations worldwide, Continental and Osram say in a news release.

“The pace of innovation in the automotive industry lighting segment is rapid, and software is strengthening this dynamic,” says Helmut Matschi, a member of the Continental executive board. “While conventional lighting expertise remains important to our customers, the addition of electronics to enable new light functions is taking on increased significance. The joint venture would systematically combine these two areas and raise them to a new level.”

Similar to the situation with general lighting, the automotive-industry lighting market is moving toward semiconductor-based technologies. Each year, growth in the market for semiconductor-based front lighting is somewhere in the double-digit range, the companies say. Market studies indicate that by as early as 2025 more than half of new cars worldwide could be fitted with semiconductor-based lighting products.

“By joining forces, we will be in an even better position to drive forward innovations by working closely with the automotive industry to integrate lighting, sensor technology and electronics seamlessly in a single application,” says Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO of Osram’s Specialty Lighting business unit.

“This will allow us to drive forward new intelligent light functions, such as the combination of lighting and sensor technology in a module or light-based communication between the driver, other road users and the vehicle surroundings.”

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