Bombshell! Chinese Investors Buy Teledyne Continental Motors

[PW_Plack]

Wow. They say they'll retain current senior management, remain in Alabama, and put some money into the new diesel. But tough to see more than a century of history sold to the Chinese.

Story here.

 

[bpearson]

Not really a bombshell .....just a taste of whats to come. China and India will in the coming years eat the west alive!

 

[Scary Gary]

I can hardly wait .

 

[All_In]

Dang, another reason not to buy a Continental!

 

[Passin' Thru]

Not really a bombshell .....just a taste of whats to come. China and India will in the coming years eat the west alive!

I'm afraid you're right! Sad, but true. :sad:
Power is shifting, the stars are realigning, big changes are on the wind!

 

[automan1223]

Thank your leaders

Thank your leaders

This is the result of half a century of economic treason by our elected leaders.

Congratulations everyone.

The last of whats left, everything from orange groves to airplane engines are going overseas....

I guess about the only thing they wont outsource is lawn mowing, auto repair and newspaper delivery, and burger flipper jobs. If they figure out a way, they will outsource them too !



J

 

[barnstorm2]

I agree with you on this Jonathan..

What can we do anyway?

We have had the worst student scores in the industrialized world for decades!

Our children suck at reading, math and science and we can't fire bad teachers.

All of the top tech firms have to bring IN educated labor! makes more sense to take the work to them.

Politicians and religious leaders HATE a population of critical thinkers educated in science and reading comprehension.

We are a nation of happy, fat, stupid and lazy and the happy is going away!

.

 

[getut]

I agree with you on this Jonathan..

What can we do anyway?

We have had the worst student scores in the industrialized world for decades!

Our children suck at reading, math and science and we can't fire bad teachers.

All of the top tech firms have to bring IN educated labor! makes more sense to take the work to them.

Politicians and religious leaders HATE a population of critical thinkers educated in science and reading comprehension.

We are a nation of happy, fat, stupid and lazy and the happy is going away!

.

The first step is for us to stop propping up things that are fundamentally broken. From labor unions to banking to housing... propping up something that is broken perpetuates the problem. The United States needs a reset to bring us back to reality. We constantly live in excess, we think we are entitled to what we get regardless whether it is a fair wage or not, overall we have blame mentality, and way too many in the US have a horrible work ethic and we keep bailing the bad things out or blaming it on someone else. People claim that things are going overseas because of outsourcing. Well it is being outsourced because our unions have given US workers a false belief that jobs and pay scales are guaranteed and they drive the company into bankruptcy if they don't move.

We're mad at people that have more than us and try to tax (steal) it away from them so we can continue our entitlement society and buy more votes from people who want free stuff bought with money forced from people who have more than we do. Its not OK to demand more (percentage wise) from rich people just because there are more people wanting to vote to make it that way.

I see this as our own fault and nothing will be done as long as the slate is kept from clearing by propping up everything bad about our country and our economy. Let the bad stuff fail, mourn our losses for a small time, clean up and get on with what is GOOD about the country.

 

[Dale Young]

This is the result of half a century of economic treason by our elected leaders.

Congratulations everyone.

The last of whats left, everything from orange groves to airplane engines are going overseas....

I guess about the only thing they wont outsource is lawn mowing, auto repair and newspaper delivery, and burger flipper jobs. If they figure out a way, they will outsource them too !



J

PRECISELY what Ross Perot warned us and Clinton about,but Clinton did'nt seem to care.

 

[PW_Plack]

...We're mad at people that have more than us and try to tax (steal) it away from them...Its not OK to demand more (percentage wise) from rich people just because there are more people wanting to vote to make it that way...

The founders included a prohibition against an income tax in the Constitution, something which was later overturned by the Sixteenth Amendment. Suddenly, we had a society structured on envy, and flipped the switch on the ability of all federal politicians afterward to pander to the working class and the poor.

Let's also not forget that while we've been taught by tax policy to hate successful people, we've been taught by the unions to hate the poor. Somehow it's right to boycott Nike for paying a Malaysian four times his national average wage to make sneakers, because a $70/hr forklift driver at GM has been laid off.

I'm afraid the old line that "America has created the greatest standard of living in the world" has been abused at times as a cover for living in a dream world on borrowed money. There's no question that we've saved the world from tyranny a couple times, but the idea that we're somehow more righteous and deserving of material wealth than anyone else on the planet in return is in for a hard fall.

And please, let's stop talking about corruption in Washington DC as if it was anything but the mirror it is. We put those people there, and most of us decry every special interest group except our own. The Constitution could have kept the genie in the bottle just fine. But we had to keep rubbing the lamp.

 

[C. Beaty]

The Chinese have invested in a business that is shriveling on the vine. Engines virtually unchanged since the 1930s. They’re counting on China opening to general aviation.

Perhaps Cessna or the like is next.

Continental was a real force in years past; not just aircraft engines but a broad range of automotive and industrial engines.

 

[PW_Plack]

...a business that is shriveling on the vine. Engines virtually unchanged since the 1930s. They’re counting on China opening to general aviation...

Chuck, your prediction of the business plan is likely spot-on, but when I see criticism of the legacy technology, I keep wondering why companies like Cirrus keep using these engines if they're so dated.

Part of it is certainly the regulatory hurdle in getting anything new approved, but I think a lot of it is simply that the technology is still as good as anything out there for the application. Lycoming has electronic engine management it can't certify until the bean counters turn loose the funding. Continental is in a similar situation, and may now have the capital to turn the engineers loose.

As far as the technology of the engine core, is there something that works better, lasts longer, or is more reliable?

What's discouraging is that, should Lycoming go this same way, there won't be much left of the US aircraft engine industry.

 

[JEFF TIPTON]

If it is of any consequence, I have heard that a US corporation is a major stock holder in the parent company of Rotax. So there would still be some sort US engine.

I wonder if the Chinese have a diesel engine that they are trying to certify and this purchase is a way to facilitate this end.

When Garmin was coming up, they too had trouble with the certification process and purchased the UPS 480 series. Shortly after that the Garmin 430 was certified asnd look where they are now.

 

[PW_Plack]

Jeff, Continental recently acquired a diesel development program it's calling the TD-300, but hasn't had the money to certify it and bring it to market. So if the Chinese didn't have a diesel before, they have one now.

 

[C. Beaty]

Chuck, your prediction of the business plan is likely spot-on, but when I see criticism of the legacy technology, I keep wondering why companies like Cirrus keep using these engines if they're so dated.

Just imagine what a marvel of reliability and durability a Model A Ford engine would have been had Ford continued to manufacture it since 1928, making only evolutionary changes.

Power to weight ratio would not have been one of its strong points, however. And Ford would not still have been in business.
****
Imagine a 100 HP gas turbine weighing 50 lbs.

The obstacle to a modern engine is certification cost and market potential. The market is so small (small in the context of most consumer goods) that costs could not possibly be amortized.

 

[Master Roda]

I like chinese food.

 

[Earthboundmisft]

Wonder if the new Cont will have metric fasteners...

 

[PW_Plack]

I like chinese food.

The way things are headed, in a few years, that could be important.

 

[PW_Plack]

Just imagine what a marvel of reliability and durability a Model A Ford engine would have been had Ford continued to manufacture it since 1928, making only evolutionary changes...

But none of these more complicated, newer-tech piston aircraft engines improve significantly on power-to-weight without introducing other downsides, and they're certainly not cheaper. What's to be gained?

 

[gyroplanes]

Don't forget the high tech Porsche Flug Motor. The PFM was going to put the old dinosaurs to bed.
Cessna & mooney jumped on board and the Flug Motor (I bellieved in) disappeared before I could get to their school.
I'd venture to say the Rotax 4 strokes are outselling new Lycs & Conts these days. Just a guess.