As for McKinley's 42-volt turbocharging system, BorgWarner decided to shelve the idea for the time being.
Any idea must draw upon the capabilities of at least two of BorgWarner's four business units.
It's only seed money, representing a fraction of the 4% of revenue BorgWarner spends on research and development.
BorgWarner expects demand for the technology to grow to 25% of the European passenger car market by 2015.
"If somebody's going to take our business, I'd just as soon it be BorgWarner, " says Chief Executive Timothy M.
In the late 1990s Steven McKinley, a young engineer at BorgWarner, urged senior managers to back him on a hunch.
And unlike most North American suppliers, whose fortunes are closely tied to struggling General Motors and Ford Motor, BorgWarner has a diverse, worldwide customer base.
Other projects financed by the VC fund: In BorgWarner's engine division engineers are working on strategies to optimize airflow in diesel engines for more efficient combustion.
BorgWarner specializes in technology that improves fuel economy, vehicle emissions and stability--all of which happen to be in great demand right now, a demand fueled by tougher regulations.
His small German operation lacking resources, he teamed with another BorgWarner business unit and then applied for funding from the fledgling corporate venture fund to bring it to market.
Among the largest underlying components of IJH, in trading today Borgwarner Incorporated ( BWA) is up about 1.2%, and Dollar Tree Incorporated ( DLTR) is higher by about 0.4%.
And an auto supplier like BorgWarner (nyse: BWA - news - people ), which gets a quarter of its business from ailing Ford Motor, is especially vulnerable, right?
That could be one reason (along with the important difference that BorgWarner does not have the same wage-and-benefit burden as Delphi Corp.) that BorgWarner is cruising in an industry that is sputtering.
That could be one reason (along with the important difference that BorgWarner does not have the same UAW wage-and-benefit burden as Delphi Corp.) that BorgWarner is cruising in an industry that is sputtering.
In 1997 a team led by Bernd Matthes, chief engineer at a BorgWarner transmission plant in Germany, came up with a concept for a dual-clutch transmission technology, which gives a fuel-efficient manual transmission the smooth feel of an automatic.
Japanese and European automakers are building fewer engines with timing belts, a source of warranty headaches, and opting for more durable--and initially more expensive--timing chains. (Detroit has used chains for years.) BorgWarner owns 70% of that market, which is growing 10% a year.
So, crawling out on a limb, he asked BorgWarner's strategy board for funds so that he and a small group of engineers could begin work on a new turbocharging system that would draw its power from the supersize battery instead of the car's exhaust system.
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