Autoliv and Magneti Marelli in Cooperation

The agreement mainly includes collaboration in engineering, manufactur­ing and marketing of automatic emergency systems and other so-called telematics systems as well as the manufacturing of Electronic Control Units (ECU) for airbags. Telematics systems are being installed in a rapidly increasing number of advanced vehicles. The basic version of a telematics system consists of an "E-call", which is an automatic crash notification function that calls an emergency center immediately after a serious accident to get a rescue team to the site of a crash even if the driver is unconscious. There is a proposal to make such systems mandatory on all European vehicles by 2009. These systems could also include a Stolen Vehicle Tracking (SVT) function, car-integrated telephones and several hands-free functions. Autoliv and Magneti Marelli will, as a first step, focus on a new platform of telematics systems for the mass market. Currently, telematics systems are typically offered as optional items in luxury and premium-end vehicles and, as a result, the market is relatively small. Magneti Marelli and Autoliv are the combined European sales leader in this market. In addition to telematics, the two companies will start cooperating in electronic control units (ECU) for airbags. Autoliv is one of the sales and technology leaders in this field, while Magneti Marelli offers production capacity and local presence in a large number of markets. According to the agreement the two companies will also explore the possibilities to expand the coopera­tion into other areas of advanced automotive safety system electronics where there are opportunities to leverage Magneti Marelli's strength in instrument clusters, displays and navigation systems with Autoliv's strength in advanced safety systems.