Uh, pardon me, but wasn’t Delphi one of the companies mentioned in connection with the recent multi-national investigation, led by the EU, of a giant wiring harness cartel, as reported by the Wall Street Journal? You know, the one that’s apparently been rogering automotive/interconnect OEM suppliers like Methode Electronics vis a vis one of the oldest games in town, i.e. the whole “pricey fixey” thing (with apologies to Sarah Palin)?
Delphi, it should be noted, was not one of the companies directly named in the EU cartel investigation. Reporting in the The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press said the automotive monolith was had been “contacted.” But let’s keep it real: Delphi wields a big stick in this industry. A huge stick.
Meanwhile, despite a good 3Q showing, Methode has basically been suffering since getting dumped by Delphi last year, as you can kind of discern if you parse the full press release.
Were Delphi eventually named as party to the cartel -- not saying they will be, mind you, or ever would be -- but if they were, well…that would be bad. And OEM suppliers such as Methode would be justified in feeling even more upset than they already should be feeling toward the cartel’s conspirator companies. Or so it would appear to me.
-- Matthew Vincent, Senior Editor, Interconnection World
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