Recaro Automotive has filed for insolvency with the Esslingen District Court yesterday (the equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US). According to Autocar, local reports suggest that Recaro Automotive employees have yet to be informed that the company will be filing for bankruptcy.
The news comes 4 years after Recaro Automotive was sold by American seating giant, Adient to private investment firm Raven Acquisitions. The filing of bankruptcy of Recaro Automotive does not affect Recaro’s other business divisions such as its aircraft seat business, gaming seat business, or child seat business. Although Recaro Automotive has been sold to Raven Acquisitions, the rest of the Recaro business arms are still owned by Recaro Holding.
Some of the reasons for the bankruptcy filing would be the lack of new orders and the loss of a major contract. Recaro Automotive has been supplying its seats in high-performance cars such as the Ford Fiesta ST, Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport, and the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Many car manufacturers have also relied on Recaro and the list includes brands like Audi, Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Ford, Mazda, Porsche, and Renault. Even Sony used Recaro seats in its Afeela concept car.
The original Recaro company (now known as Recaro Holdings) started out as a coachbuilder (Stuttgarter Carosserie und Radfabrik) in 1906. The company produced bodies for various Porches and Volkswagens until the early 1960s, but eventually pivoted into seat production. In fact, the “Recaro” name itself is the shortened combination of “Reutter Karosserie”.
Recaro Automotive isn’t the only automotive-related business to file for bankruptcy in recent years as wheelmaker BBS also suffered the same ill fate. With Recaro Automotive filing for bankruptcy, you might want to hold on to your original Recaro seat as it may just increase in value.
