GKN Automotive

GKN Automotive is a multinational manufacturer of driveline components, all-wheel drive systems and plug-in hybrid systems for the automotive industry.[2]

GKN Automotive
TypeDivision
IndustryAutomotive
HeadquartersLondon,
United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsAutomotive Components
OwnerDowlais Group PLC [1]
Number of employees
25,000 (2023)

It employs around 25,000 people across 47 manufacturing facilities and 6 technology centres in 19 countries.[3]

In 2018, GKN Automotive’s former parent company, GKN Ltd, was acquired by Melrose[4] and its automotive business was renamed GKN Automotive.[5] This encompasses both the Driveline and ePowertrain divisions.[6]

GKN Automotive became the world's largest producer of constant-velocity joints (CVJs), which it began manufacturing in the 1960s for early front-wheel drive cars.[7] Its other products include sideshafts, propshafts, modular eDrive systems, multi-mode hybrid transmissions for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, torque vectoring systems for electric drivelines and a range of all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive systems.[8]

History

GKN (Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds)'s origins date back to 1759 and the founding of the Dowlais Ironworks by the industrialists Thomas Lewis and Isaac Wilkinson.[9] It has changed shape and direction many times along with the engineering industry. The company took part in the railway boom in the early 1800s with its production of iron, then steel in the 1860s and, after the First World War, the automotive industry.

In 1966, after being advised GKN Steel would be nationalised for the second time, GKN bought CVJ market leaders Birfield Industries with its subsidiaries Hardy Spicer and Laycock Engineering with their interests and subsidiaries in Europe, Japan and the United States to save its BRD subsidiary.[10] This was the start of the company's globalization. GKN established a manufacturing presence in China in 1988. At the same time, GKN Driveline was investing in and growing its business in India, Brazil and Mexico.

References
  1. "Dowlais Group PLC". www.dowlais.com. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  2. "GKN Automotive Limited - MarkLines Automotive Industry Portal". www.marklines.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  3. "GKN Automotive - Company". GKN. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  4. "GKN Automotive Limited - MarkLines Automotive Industry Portal". www.marklines.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  5. "Our heritage | GKN Automotive". GKN. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  6. "GKN Automotive - Company". GKN. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  7. "Confucius rules at GKN". The Economist. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  8. "GKN Automotive Limited - MarkLines Automotive Industry Portal". www.marklines.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  9. Andrew Lorenz, "GKN. The Making of a Business 1759-2009", 2009
  10. Andrew Lorenz, GKN, the making of a Business, Wiley UK, 2009 ISBN 9780470749531

Bibliography
  • Lorenz, Andrew: GKN.The Making of a Business 1759-2009. John Wiley & Sons Ltd (2009)
  • Jones, Edgar: A History of GKN. Volume One: Innovation & Enterprise 1759-1918. GKN plc (1987)
  • Jones, Edgar: A History of GKN. Volume Two: The Growth of a Business 1918-1945. GKN plc (1990)
  • GKN plc factsheet: http://www.gkn.com/media/Documents/GKNfactsheet_final.pdf, 12.08.2011
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