International automotive supplier Continental has taken over full ownership of its former joint venture, Zytek Automotive, based in Fradley in the United Kingdom. This is with effect from February 3, 2014. Continental previously had a 50 percent shareholding in Zytek Automotive. Both companies have agreed not to disclose the price for the acquisition.

In future, Zytek Automotive will operate as a part of the Continental Engineering Services (CES) organisation in the UK, embracing CES's complete service and technology portfolio, and thus providing engineering services covering the chassis, the interior and the powertrain. "This acquisition allows us to meet the increasing need for engineering services. Whether it's from vehicle manufacturers or suppliers - we are seeing an increase in requests for special customer-specific designs and for components for small-scale production runs or niche vehicles, in areas such as electronic brakes, the chassis and the powertrain," said Bernd Neitzel, MD, CES.

The Zytek Automotive engineering company employs a workforce of some 150 at its headquarters in Fradley near Birmingham and has particularly well-developed expertise in all areas of automotive technology and vehicle engineering. Zytek's customers include well-known vehicle manufacturers in Europe, the US and Japan. The company's main focus of activity has so far been on conventional, electrical and hybrid drive systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
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