Lear Corporation (NYSE:LEA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 5 of 10

And we’re investing in a brand new facility with the top line capital to make sure that we’re efficient. And there’s other opportunities that we’re looking at in Europe, in North America that are very similar in nature. And those investments obviously expand our EBIT and our EBITDA, and our good investments in our wheelhouse where we’re doing a nice job too.

John Murphy: That’s very helpful. And then quickly just a second question on EVs here. I mean we’re getting real price action coming out of the biggest player in the market, it’s people are responding in China now, in the U.S. What could a surge in EV volumes in 2023 mean for you? Are you set-up to benefit from that and have a capacity to handle that or is that something they might pass you by. I’m just curious if you think about the current environment, it seems like it could be very advantageous for the E-Systems side, but also maybe even on the Seating side as well.

Jason Cardew: I think on both. I think we’ve talked about 67% of our new backlog was in electric vehicles and Seatings. So, yes that’s setting up for Seating very well, and I think in E-Systems equally as far as the investments. I think it’s taken a step back and we have talked about the strategy, we’re really focusing on what we believe were core components that weren’t going to be in-sourced or engineered by our customers and we have a shot at scaling properly. So the facilities that we’re setting up like the facility in Michigan, it’s designed exactly around that. We talked about on an annual basis, the $500 million revenue, but we can expand that for additional capacity and the focus that we’re getting very granular in our approach of being very efficient at our engineering and capital that we’re spending to capitalize on the ability to scale is exactly where we’re going.

So, yes as EVs accelerate, we are in a very good position both in E-Systems and in Seating based on the backlog that we’ve seen in Seating in the percentage of wins that we’ve gotten in the EV market.

John Murphy: But just to be clear, in the near-term, this might be happening like as we are speaking. Have you seen anything in schedules as far as the mix change here in the short-run or are these pricing actions, something that are still kind of on the common in releases that you might see in the coming months?

Jason Cardew: We are seeing customers ask for additional capacity, for example, Ford and the Mustang Mach E we’ve increased capacity in the near term to support a ramp-up in volume there. So, I think selectively in certain customers we are seeing an acceleration of volume potentially that may benefit later this year and into next year.

Ray Scott: And we’re in those discussions right now as far as expanding our capacity with each one of those customers.

Operator: Our next question comes from James Picariello from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead with your question.

James Picariello: Just on the U.S. growth over market backdrop. On a core basis, if you exclude the commodities impact in addition to FX and acquisitions, the mid-point is just under 5% growth over market, something like 4.7%. That compares to your weighted global LVP of course of plus 2%. So, can you unpack what’s driving this point or so of lower outgrowth this year, is it Seating content mix, is it push out of certain launches in your backlog. Just how would you characterize the puts and takes? Thanks.

Page 5 of 10