Item 1. Business
General
Veoneer, Inc. (“Veoneer”, the “Company” or “we”) is a Delaware corporation with its principal executive office in Stockholm, Sweden. Veoneer was incorporated under the laws of Delaware in 2017 for the purpose of holding this business. On June 29, 2018, Veoneer became an independent company as a result of the separation of the Electronics segment from Autoliv, Inc. (“Autoliv”). The separation was completed in the form of a pro rata distribution of 100% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock of Veoneer to the stockholders of Autoliv (the “Spin-Off”). The Company functions as a holding corporation and owns two principal subsidiaries, Veoneer AB and Veoneer US, Inc.
Shares of Veoneer common stock are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “VNE”. Swedish Depository Receipts representing shares of Veoneer common stock (“SDRs”) trade on NASDAQ Stockholm under the symbol “VNE SDB”. Our fiscal year ends on December 31.
On October 30, 2019, Veoneer signed definitive agreements to sell its 51% ownership in Veoneer Nissin Brake Japan ("VNBJ") and Veoneer Nissin Brake China ("VNBZ"), the entities that comprised VNBS at the time of such agreements, to its joint venture partner Nissin-Kogyo Co., Ltd., and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. The consideration received was $176 million. The transaction was completed on February 3, 2020 under the definitive agreements, and the VNBS joint venture was terminated. See Note 6 "Divestiture and Held for Sale" for additional information.
On April 2, 2020, the Company entered into a non-binding agreement with Volvo Cars Corporation ("VCC") to separate the businesses of Zenuity, a 50% ownership joint venture with VCC, into two separate business with each JV partner absorbing the business most relevant to its strategic interests and direction. The parties entered into definitive agreements and effected the separation on July 1, 2020. As part of the transaction the Company paid approximately $37 million to Zenuity for 200 software engineers and two business units located in Germany and the US.
On August 10, 2020, Veoneer signed a definitive agreement to sell the majority of the Veoneer Brake Systems (VBS) business in North America to ZF Active Safety US, Inc (ZF). The aggregate purchase price was $1. In connection with the transaction, the Company received approximately $22 million from ZF for VBS operational cost reimbursement. See Note 6 “Divestiture and Held for Sale" for additional information.
On August 27, 2020, Veoneer announced its intention to enter into a collaboration agreement with Qualcomm, Inc. on the delivery of scalable Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (“ADAS”) and Autonomous Driving (“AD”) solutions. The parties entered into a definitive agreement on January 26, 2021.
Business
Veoneer is a global technology leader in the design, development, manufacture and sale of automotive safety electronics. Our ambition is to be a leading system supplier for ADAS and Highly Automated Driving ("HAD") solutions, which we refer to as "Collaborative Driving", and AD solutions, and to be recognized as a market leader in automotive safety electronics products.
Based on our purpose of "Creating Trust in Mobility", our Safety Systems are designed to make driving safer and easier, more comfortable and convenient, and to intervene before a collision. Our systems currently include Restraint Control electronics and crash sensors for deployment of airbags and seatbelt pretensioners, Active Safety sensors, controllers, and software for ADAS, HAD and AD solutions branded Arriver™.
As of December 31, 2020, Veoneer has 6 manufacturing sites and operates in 11 countries and its customers include most of the world’s largest car manufacturers. Veoneer’s sales in 2020 were $1.37 billion, approximately 45% of which consisted of Active Safety products, approximately 49% of which consisted of Restraint Control Systems and approximately 6% of which consisted of Brake Systems products and other brake control ECUs. Our business is conducted primarily in Europe, North America and Asia.
Veoneer’s head office is located in Stockholm, Sweden. As of December 31, 2020, Veoneer had approximately 6,200 associates worldwide and total associates of approximately 7,550, including temporary personnel.
Additional information required by this Item 1 regarding developments in the Company’s business during 2020 is contained under Item 7 in this Annual Report.
Financial Information on Segments
Until August 10, 2020, Veoneer had two operating segments, Electronics and Brake Systems. The Electronics segment includes all safety electronics resources and expertise, Restraint Control Systems and Active Safety products. The Brake Systems segment included brake control and actuation systems.
As noted above, Veoneer divested the vast majority of its Brake Systems business. The remaining Brake Systems business is no longer a reportable segment due to immateriality.
Business Strategy
We believe Veoneer is well-positioned for growth from increasing long-term global vehicle production volumes, increased demand for safety and for collaborative and autonomous driving products. This is evidenced by the Company's strong order book. Veoneer is focused on accelerating the commercialization of Active Safety and Collaborative and Autonomous Driving by providing the software, sensors and the central computer platforms required to do so. Our products provide a significant benefit to society by reducing human fatalities and injuries related to automobile traffic accidents.
As a consequence of the restructuring activities in 2020 and the establishment of ArriverTM, Veoneer is considering changes to its operating structure to further focus on our product offering, effective cost management, and overall operational excellence.
Products and Technology
Veoneer provides a portfolio of automotive safety electronics. The portfolio includes Active Safety Systems (including sensors) and perception and driving policy software for ADAS, HAD and AD solutions, and Restraint Control Systems such as ECUs and crash sensors for deployment of airbags and seatbelt pretensioners in the event of a collision.
Active Safety Systems
The goal of Active Safety systems is to provide early warnings to alert drivers to take timely and appropriate action or trigger intelligent systems that affect the vehicle’s motion, to prevent the occurrence of accidents, or reduce the severity of, any such accidents, as well as to increase the comfort and convenience of driving. Active Safety systems can also improve the effectiveness of the restraint control systems, which combine hazard information with traditional crash-sensing methods.
Active Safety and Driver Assistance features and functions include: Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), which brakes a vehicle autonomously; Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which keeps and adjusts the vehicle’s pre-set speed to keep a pre-set distance from vehicles ahead; Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) and Highway Assist, which takes control of braking and acceleration in slow-moving traffic and highway speed, respectively; Forward Collision Warning (FCW); Blind Spot Detection (BSD); Rear Cross-Traffic Assist (RCTA); Lane Departure Warning (LDW); Lane Centering Assist (LCA), Traffic Sign Detection (TSD); Light Source Recognition (LSR); Driver Monitoring for driver attention and drowsiness; In-cabin monitoring, Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communication and Night Driving Assist.
Veoneer has one of the broadest ADAS product portfolio offerings in the market, which includes all major sensing technologies, perception and driving policy software, central compute and digital mapping technologies and cloud solutions. When considering this hardware and software suite of technologies Veoneer is able to provide “turn-key solutions” when our OEM customers require 5-star NCAP solutions, thereby Veoneer can provide the entire system or even sub-systems when required.
Our product portfolio has been significantly expanded over the recent years from individual hardware sensing components to a full range of key features and functions. This enables Veoneer to address our customer needs today, and likely in the future, with a complete system offering of ADAS and AD solutions for consumer-based vehicles and specific sub-system solutions for robo-taxi applications.
Overall Veoneer has been awarded business with 17 original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) globally. Key products and systems in the Company's Active Safety sensor portfolio, either currently provided to the market or under product development, include:
Vision Systems: Vision systems are critical to driver assistance and safety functions. They support the driver in collision avoidance and mitigating the crash severity in the event of an accident. Using our internally developed software algorithms, the camera looks at the road ahead for other vehicles, road signs, lane markings, traffic lights, intersections and other key road attributes to provide information and warnings if a vehicle is approaching a potentially hazardous traffic situation. Vision systems are used in applications such as road-sign recognition and lane detection, along with forward and pedestrian collision warnings. We offer forward looking mono-vision and stereo-vision systems:
•The mono-vision system is a forward-looking camera that is mounted behind the windshield in front of the rear-view mirror. Images are interpreted by algorithms that help identify objects and assist the driver with warnings or actuation such as lane keeping and automatic braking of the vehicle. Mono-vision systems provide a significant level of accident reductions and are fundamental to achieve NCAP 5-star safety levels as well as driver comfort and convenience features like Adaptive Cruise Control.
•Stereo-vision system technology goes a step further and measures the entire driving environment with superior accuracy and depth. The system is capable of acting on any object without classification. Stereo-vision also provides free-space recognition, and road surface measurement down to millimeter level accuracy, which is important to OEMs to improve safety and comfort and provides depth perception for distance calculations due to the 3D capability.
Next generation vision systems and algorithms such as our fourth-generation mono and stereo-cameras, which went into initial production in 2019, support AD and European New Car Assessment Program (“NCAP”) 2020. Fifth generation vision systems, which are in the early development stages, and planned for production in 2024 will offer more than five times higher image resolution than the current generations of camera solutions and deep learning, as well as offer multiple camera solutions. Selected customers where Veoneer has been awarded and sourced business for its vision systems include: Geely, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Cars, Subaru, two major global OEMs, and two local Chinese OEMs in addition to Geely.
Night Vision Systems: Using passive infrared technology (thermal sensing), our night vision system identifies pedestrians, animals and certain other hazards present in the danger zone of a vehicle, and alerts the driver, particularly in nighttime, or other “challenging” conditions. Our night vision system is the key component in “dynamic light spot” pedestrian illumination system which allows more time for drivers to identify potential hazards at distances beyond normal head-lights. Our fourth-generation night vision system, which launched during 2020, has improved field of view and detection distances, reduction in size, weight and cost, featuring enhanced algorithms for pedestrian, animal and vehicle detection as well as supporting night time AEB solutions. Selected customers of the night vision system include Audi, BMW, GM, Mercedes-Benz, PSA, Porsche and Volkswagen.
Radar Systems: Radar systems capture and analyze driving conditions and alert the driver to potentially dangerous situations, and can take control of the vehicle if the driver does not take timely, appropriate action. Radar systems are used in functions such as ACC and AEB. Radar is important because it provides superior performance in poor weather conditions such as rain and fog and other situations with limited or poor visibility from the camera system. Fused with vision systems, higher levels of functional safety are possible, allowing a wider range of operating conditions. Our radar sensor portfolio includes: 25GHz ultra-wide band radar, 24 GHz narrow band radar, and 77GHz front and rear corner, and front center radars. We also see future market opportunities for radar based in-cabin monitoring solutions that will address the issue of unattended children left in vehicles, a functionality that is expected to be fundamental for achieving 5-star NCAP ratings in Europe from 2025 onwards as well as being potentially mandated in North America as part of the “Hot Cars Act of 2019”, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2020 and is pending approval by the U.S. Senate. Another promising technology is the Imaging Radar to address needs of higher driving automation. Selected customers for our radar systems include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), GAC, Geely, General Motors (GM), Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, and Volvo Cars. Veoneer has been awarded and sourced business with 13 OEM customers.
ADAS Central Compute: ADAS ECUs are emerging products within the Active Safety market and are precursors to the autonomous vehicles of the future. Today, a limited number of OEMs are using ADAS Domain controller ECUs, as most of the ADAS functionalities are embedded in the sensors in a distributed architecture. With future ADAS and AD systems increasing in complexity, the need for multi-sensor solutions and subsequently higher processing capabilities is expected to lead to more OEMs installing ADAS domain control or cross-domain ECUs their vehicles. While in current systems sensor data processing and perception algorithms are mostly taking in place in the sensors, more advanced ADAS/AD functionalities put higher requirements on sensors, which drives the trend to centralize processing functions to get the most accurate understanding of the vehicle's relationship with its environment.
In the ADAS ECU, large quantities of data from the vehicle’s different sensors are analyzed and validated. Advanced algorithms can then act in real time to warn the driver and control the vehicle throttle, braking and steering torque to follow a desired trajectory for full AD. We believe one of the biggest challenges self-driving cars will have to overcome is being able to react to the randomness of traffic flow, other drivers, and the fact that no two driving situations are ever the same.
Utilizing deep learning (artificial intelligence) and sensor fusion, algorithms in the ADAS ECU can likely be enhanced in such a way that the vehicle will be able to make better decisions than a human driver. This processing must be done with multiple levels of redundancy to ensure the highest level of safety and reliability. The computing demands of driverless vehicles are 50 to 100 times more extensive than the most advanced vehicle today. Meeting these demands will be a major challenge in developing the next generation of ADAS ECUs, including data processing.
In 2016, we launched the world’s first ADAS ECU for mass production in Mercedes-Benz’s new E-class. We provide a similar solution to the updated Mercedes-Benz S-class, and have received new business awards with VCC and Geely over the next 18 months.
Safety Domain ECUs: As Active and Passive Safety features become more advanced, having dedicated ECUs for the various features increases the complexity, weight and cost of the vehicle architecture. The Safety Domain ECU replaces multiple dedicated ECUs across the vehicle by combining all Active and Passive Safety ECUs into one powerful domain controller. This requires a highly powerful processor that is able to execute simultaneous computing. Techniques such as virtualization enable the safe and secure separation of computing tasks, as the other controllers are not affected if one virtual controller fails.
Lidar: In 2017, we agreed to collaborate with Velodyne to expand and commercialize our lidar development. Lidar is expected to be an important sensor technology for the future development of AD systems. Under the current non-exclusive agreement with Velodyne, Veoneer acts as the Tier-1 supplier to the OEMs for the Velodyne lidar sensors. Veoneer provides project management services, product validation and verification, system/interface packaging and manufacturing to produce automotive-grade lidar systems to the OEMs. Our lidar product roadmap includes first providing it to test fleets of the OEMs and the robo-taxis market followed by developing a solid-state design for the consumer vehicle market.
Building on this relationship, on January 7, 2019 the Company announced entry into a license and supply agreement with Velodyne whereby Velodyne provides Veoneer US, Inc. with materials and rights to certain Velodyne intellectual property that enables Veoneer US, Inc. to sell, distribute, promote, manufacture and modify, including related research and development ("R&D") certain lidar products based on a Velodyne based reference design.
Driver Monitoring: We have been developing solutions to address driver distraction and fatigue as they relate to traditional driving situations and driver attention for hands-free driving. In 2017, we entered into an agreement with Seeing Machines to accelerate this effort. It appears very likely that this technology is going to be mandated as part of the General Safety Requirements (GSR) in Europe to obtain vehicle homologation for new vehicle types by 2024 and for all new vehicles from 2026. It is expected to be necessary to achieve a 5-star NCAP rating in Europe in 2025 as well as Level 3/4 autonomy solutions worldwide. Our non-exclusive agreement with Seeing Machines to utilize their reference design and market under a license, provides Veoneer the capability to build hardware and feature level solutions on top of Seeing Machines’ world leading head pose, gaze and recognition data outputs.
RoadScape: Our RoadScapeTM product line offers highly accurate satellite positioning along with world leading dead reckoning capabilities for increased precision in highway, urban and rural areas. Building on this, our RoadScapeTM platform provides a digital representation of the road ahead that can be further enhanced through probe data in the field and cloud connectivity. Adding RoadScapeTM communication technology allows for vehicle-to-vehicle, infrastructure and cloud connectivity for premonition and situational awareness in ADAS and AD.
Human Machine Interaction (“HMI”): Effective two-way communication between the vehicle and driver is critical to building driver trust and enhancing the driver experience. Veoneer’s Learning Intelligent Vehicle (“LIV”) is an artificial intelligence-equipped research vehicle that can understand and respond to context. LIV uses external and internal sensing combined with complex artificial intelligence algorithms to create a unified contextual picture of what is going on with the occupants, vehicle, driving situation and then acts and serves as a “co-pilot” to communicate with drivers and passengers. Veoneer uses LIV to learn more about: task delegation, shared control, driver-vehicle collaboration, innovative ways to increase driver understanding of an autonomous system, and to continually improve the system’s understanding of its human co-travelers.
ADAS, HAD and AD System Level Software Solutions (Arriver™ Products)
On April 2, 2020, the Company entered into a non-binding agreement with Volvo Cars Corporation (VCC) to separate the businesses of Zenuity, a 50% ownership joint venture with VCC, into two separate business with each JV partner absorbing the business most relevant to its strategic interests and direction. The parties entered into definitive agreements and effected the separation on July 1, 2020. As part of the transaction the Company added approximately 200 software engineers to its software engineering team to enable the development of the Company's next-generation perception and driving policy software stack.
In January 2021, Veoneer and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. signed an agreement under which the companies will collaborate on the delivery of scalable ADAS, Collaborative and AD solutions. The collaborative platform will integrate Veoneer's next-generation perception and driving policy software stack (Arriver™ Products) and Qualcomm® Snapdragon Ride™ ADAS/AD scalable portfolio of System on a Chip (SoC) and Accelerators. The platform will address the growing needs of the automotive ecosystem for scalable and upgradable solutions, which requires highly advanced and power-efficient compute, connectivity and cloud service capabilities across all vehicle tiers. Veoneer and Qualcomm Technologies have been working together since the first announcement of their collaboration in August 2020 to create a roadmap of a scalable, open ADAS and AD system that will be able to address the entire automotive OEM market with an integrated software and SoC platform.
Restraint Control Systems
The Restraint Control System is the brain triggering a vehicle’s Passive Safety system in a crash situation. Restraint Control Systems consist of a restraint ECU and related remote crash sensors, including acceleration and pressure sensors. The ECUs algorithms decide when a seatbelt pretensioner should be triggered and an airbag system should be deployed.
The ECU is mounted centrally in the vehicle, well protected from the environment in the event of a crash, and is supported by crash sensors mounted in the door beam, the pillars between the doors, the rocker panels and/or in various locations at the front and rear of the vehicle. These “satellite” crash sensors provide acceleration data to enable early and appropriate deployment of the airbags and seatbelt pretensioners within milliseconds of a vehicle crash.
The ECU also contains certain sensors that are common with the brake system. We were the first to offer this type of solution, providing savings through the reduction in multiple sensors for measuring yaw rate, and consolidating this information on the vehicle data bus. Additionally, the Restraint Control System is capable of recording details of what happened before and during a crash event using an Event Data Recorder (“EDR”) with the restraint control ECU.
Selected customers include FCA, Ford, Geely, GM, Great Wall, Hyundai/Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, PSA, Renault Nissan Mitsubishi, Suzuki, VW and Volvo Cars.
Collaboration History
Over the last several years collaborations with key strategic partners have significantly influenced the development and evolution of our product portfolio. These include multiple collaborative commercial arrangements, as well as the Brake Systems joint venture with Nissin-Kogyo Co. Ltd., and Zenuity, the joint venture with Volvo Cars Corporation (VCC) to develop ADAS Software towards AD.
Following a strategic review initially launched in April 2019, Veoneer made a decision to narrow its focus to the commercialization of Active Safety and advanced ADAS in the Collaborative Driving space by providing customers with the software, sensors and the central-compute platforms required to do so. In pursuit of this goal, Veoneer elected to exit the Brake Systems business, which was substantially completed in 2020. Similarly, in 2020 Veoneer and VCC decided to separate the Zenuity business so each partner could focus on the technologies most critical for their customers, with Veoneer integrating and operating the business focused on development and commercialization of ADAS and HAD software and VCC assuming the Zenuity programs focus on AD.
In January 2021, Veoneer formalized a collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to deliver an integrated software and SoC platform that will address the growing needs of the automotive ecosystem for scalable and upgradable solutions. ArriverTM is Veoneer’s dedicated software unit for the development of the complete perception and drive policy software stack for the platform.
Veoneer continues to maintain and pursue partnerships and collaborations with partners that have the potential to enable the commercialization of Active Safety and advanced ADAS in the Collaborative Driving space.
History of Collaborations:
January 2021: Veoneer and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. executed an agreement under which the companies will collaborate on the delivery of scalable ADAS, Collaborative and AD solutions powered by Veoneer’s next-generation perception and driving policy software stack and Qualcomm® Snapdragon Ride™ ADAS/AD scalable portfolio of System on a Chip (SoC), and Accelerators. The parties’ intended collaboration was first communicated on August 27, 2020.
August 2020: Veoneer signed a definitive agreement to sell the majority of the Brake Systems business in North America to ZF.
April 2020: Veoneer entered into a non-binding agreement with VCC to separate Zenuity, a 50% ownership joint venture with VCC. The separation was completed on July 1, 2020.
October 2019: Veoneer signed definitive agreements to divest its remaining 51% ownership in the VNBS joint venture. The transaction closed February 3, 2020.
January 2019: Veoneer announced that it had entered into a license and supply agreement with Velodyne whereby Velodyne will provide Veoneer US, Inc. with materials and rights to certain Velodyne intellectual property which would enable Veoneer US, Inc. to sell, distribute, promote, manufacture and modify (including related R&D) certain LiDAR products based on a Velodyne-authorized reference design.
November 2017: Veoneer acquired Fotonic, a Swedish company with expertise in LiDAR and Time of Flight cameras, building on our collaboration with Velodyne that was established in June 2017. This acquisition added to our portfolio the collaboration capabilities within LiDAR sensors, leveraging our expertise in manufacturing and validation.
October 2017: Veoneer announced a non-exclusive collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab to develop deep learning algorithms that enable effective communication and transfer of control between driver and vehicle. This includes sensing driver gaze, emotion, cognitive load, drowsiness, hand position, posture and fusing this information with the perception of the driving environment to create safe and reliable vehicles that drivers can learn to trust.
August 2017: Veoneer announced a non-exclusive collaboration with Seeing Machines, a pioneer in computer vision based human sensing technologies to develop next generation Driver Monitoring Systems for autonomous vehicles.
July 2017: Veoneer announced a non-exclusive collaboration with Velodyne to sell various LiDAR sensors as the Tier-1 supplier to the OEMs. See details above.
June 2017: Veoneer announced a non-exclusive early stage collaboration with NVIDIA, in combination with Zenuity, providing Veoneer and Zenuity with pre-commercial access to NVIDIA’s AI computing platform for autonomous driving. Actual production vehicles utilizing said platform are not planned for sale before 2021.
April 2017: Veoneer launched Zenuity, a strategic 50/50 joint venture with Volvo Cars. This joint venture is an industry first, where an OEM and Tier-1 supplier, both recognized as pioneers in automotive safety, formed a company to develop ADAS software towards AD. See details above.
April 2016: Veoneer formed VNBS, a 51/49 joint venture with Nissin Kogyo, a Japanese supplier of both traditional and new brake systems. The joint venture is fully consolidated by Veoneer. See details above.
Market Overview and Competitive Landscape
Automotive Supplier Market Overview
The automotive production value chain is split among OEMs such as General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen and automotive suppliers, such as ourselves, Aptiv, Bosch, Continental, Denso, Magna, Valeo and ZF. Veoneer acts mainly as a Tier-1 supplier to OEMs, meaning that we sell products directly to OEMs.
Our underlying market is primarily driven by two critical factors: Global Light Vehicle Production (“LVP”) and Content Per Vehicle (“CPV”), whereby CPV is the clear market driver for the growth of our Total Addressable Market ("TAM").
Light Vehicle Production: Over the last two decades, LVP has increased at an average annual growth rate of around 2% despite the cyclical nature of the automotive industry. The LVP is expected to increase from 72 million vehicles in 2020, to 92 million in 2025, where approximately 86 million where produced in 2019, according to IHS Markit. The
market is undergoing a shift from traditional internal combustion engine ("ICE") vehicles, to HEVs and EVs, as emission regulations become more stringent, and battery technology continues to evolve in cost and performance.
Content Per Vehicle: Unlike LVP, we can directly influence the CPV by introducing new technologies to the market. Looking ahead, we expect the Active and Safety electronics CPV growth will primarily be driven by Active Safety content (including software), with the total Active Safety market growing from approximately $115 per vehicle in 2020 to approximately $275 per vehicle in 2026. The shift in power train technologies mentioned earlier has little effect on the Safety Electronics CPV.
See Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Trends, Uncertainties and Opportunities” for additional information related to recent trends in LVP and CPV.
Active Safety Competitive Landscape
The Active Safety market remains a highly fragmented and highly competitive. Competition is based primarily on technology, innovation, quality, delivery and price. Our future success will depend on our ability to develop advanced hardware and software technology solutions and to maintain or improve on our already strong competitive position over our existing and any new competitors. Main competitors in Active Safety include Aptiv, Bosch, Continental, Denso, Magna, Mando, Mobis, Valeo, ZF, and Intel/Mobileye as a Tier 2 vision software provider.
On a broader scale, we have seen significant shifts in our competitive landscape over the last several years. Technology companies have increased their presence and influence in ADAS and AD either through acquisitions or forming “ecosystems” around certain technologies with OEMs and other suppliers. This has led to new industry entrants like Apple, Waymo, Intel, Lyft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Uber, which also provide partnership or customer opportunities for Veoneer hardware and software solutions.
Through acquisitions, technology partnerships and licensing agreements, along with our customers we have continuously added key building blocks and we estimate capturing a market share of approximately 8% in Active Safety in 2020.
The TAM for our Active Safety products amounted to approximately $8 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to approximately $26 billion in 2026, a 21% CAGR.
ADAS, HAD and AD System Level Software Solutions (Arriver™ Products) Competitive Landscape
The market for ADAS and AD software is in its early development. Currently, Veoneer treats this market as part of the total Active Safety TAM, as separate valuations of a dedicated software opportunity are not available. As for the total Active Safety market, the competition is fragmented. Some Tier 1 automotive suppliers, such as Bosch and Continental, are developing software either for perception only, or for both perception and drive policy. MobilEye, as a Tier 2 automotive supplier, is developing perception software and adding drive policy to its offering, and has established market presence. NVIDIA appears to be pursuing a similar strategy, but does not have a commercial presence today, however a number of cooperation agreements with OEMs makes the future introduction of NVIDIA software likely.
To some extent, this type of software is also developed by the OEMs themselves. However, OEM strategies for ADAS software development varies widely, with a few developing the majority of the software in-house and others buying all or most of it from outside suppliers. The Company already has an established market presence, primarily through development of four generations of vision perception software and the drive policy software initially developed in the Zenuity joint venture and now launched commercially in a number of Volvo models.
Restraint Control Systems Competitive Landscape
The market for restraint control systems, in comparison to the Active Safety market, remains relatively consolidated with both traditional electronics suppliers and some Passive Safety suppliers. Over the past few years, we have seen our market share increase mainly due to cost efficient integration solutions and strong customer relationships built on quality and technology advancements. Currently we are a leading supplier of Restraint Control Systems with an estimated market share of approximately 22% in 2020. Our largest competitors include Bosch, Continental, Denso and ZF.
The total restraint control systems market amounted to approximately $3 billion in 2020 and is expected to remain at the same level until 2026. We believe that restraint control systems will play an integral role in a larger integration trend towards centralized Safety Domain Controllers in the future. In addition, our strong market position in restraint control systems will provide opportunities to become a leading supplier in the ADAS ECU and eventually the Safety Domain Controller market.
Research & Development and Intellectual Property
Our ability to maintain our position at the forefront of technology innovations and to serve customers on a local basis will be differentiating factors to our success. Therefore, we maintain one of the broadest global networks of technical engineering centers across all major automotive regions to develop and provide advanced products, processes and manufacturing support for our manufacturing sites and to provide our customers with local engineering capabilities and design development on a global basis.
We currently own or co-own approximately 900 active patents and have approximately 600 pending patent applications in the US and other jurisdictions. The active patents will expire between 2021 and 2040. We have registered the name Veoneer as a trademark in [Sweden] and are pursuing registration in other markets of interest. Depending on the jurisdiction, trademarks are generally valid as long as they are in use or their registrations are properly maintained, and they have not been found to have become generic.
We are actively pursuing opportunities to commercialize and license our technology to the automotive industries, and we selectively utilize other companies’ licenses through sub-licenses in order to support our business interests. These activities foster optimization of intellectual property rights.
We believe that our patents, trademarks and licenses, provide meaningful protection for our products and technical innovations and as a whole, to be material to our business. However, we do not consider our business or any of our business segments to be materially dependent upon any individual patent, trademark or license.
We seek to effectively manage fixed costs and efficiently rationalize capital spending by evaluating the market and profit potential of existing and new customer programs, including investments in innovation and technology. We maintain our engineering activities around our focused product portfolio and allocate our capital and resources to those products and distinctive technologies.
Our total research and development expenses, including engineering, net of customer reimbursements, were $407 million, $562 million and $466 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Veoneer's 50% share of Zenuity’s net expenses, as reported in loss from equity method investment, was $39 million, $70 million and $63 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. These costs were mainly related to research and development.
We believe that our engineering and technical expertise, together with our emphasis on continuing research and development, allows us to use the latest technologies, materials and processes to solve problems for our customers and to bring new innovations to market. We believe that a continued focus on engineering activities are crucial to maintaining our pipeline of advanced technologies to become automotive grade products to meet our customer, regulatory and consumer demands.
Dependence on Customers
Veoneer serves most of the world’s major automotive OEMs and is not dependent on one single customer. Our customer base has consistently increased and become more diversified over the last five years, mainly driven by our Active Safety product offerings and Brake Systems.
During 2020 Veoneer delivered production units to more than 20 OEM customers around the world. Our largest customers ranked in order as a % of our global sales were Daimler 20%, Hyundai/Kia 12%, Honda 11%, Ford 11%, General Motors 7%, FCA 6%, Renault Nissan Mitsubishi 5% and BMW 4%. In 2020, according to IHS Markit, in terms of LVP the top five largest OEMs accounted for approximately 50% of the global LVP while the top ten largest accounted for approximately 70%. In 2020, these same top five and top ten largest OEMs represent approximately 25% and 60% of our global sales, respectively.
We typically supply products to our OEM customers through written contracts or purchase orders that are generally governed by general terms and conditions established by each OEM. These arrangements include terms regarding price, quality, technology and delivery. Although it may vary from customer to customer, our customer contracts generally require us to supply a customer’s annual requirements for a particular vehicle model and assembly facilities, rather than for manufacturing a specific quantity of products. Such contracts range from one year to the life of the model, which is generally four to seven years. Because we produce products for a broad cross section of vehicle models, we are not overly reliant on any one vehicle model or one particular product.
These contracts are often subject to renegotiation, sometimes as frequent as on an annual basis, which may affect product pricing. In general, these arrangements with our customers provide that the customer can terminate them if we do not meet specified quality, delivery and cost requirements. Although these arrangements may be terminated at any time by our customers (but not typically by us), such terminations have historically been minimal and have not had a material impact on our results of
operations. However, if terminations do occur in the future or if production under a contract winds down earlier than expected, then such event could have a material impact on our results of operations. The arrangements typically provide that we are subject to a warranty on the products supplied; in most cases, the duration of such warranty is coterminous with the warranty offered by the OEM to the end-user of the vehicle. We may also be obligated to share in all or a part of recall costs if the OEM recalls its vehicles for defects attributable to our products.
Veoneer Human Capital Management
As a leading automotive technology company, the development and well-being of our employees is a key component for success. We focus on individual growth, fairness as an employer, employment terms, values, ethics and conduct, and most importantly the health and safety of our employees.
Our philosophy is to give our associates responsibility for their growth through providing challenges in their jobs as well as the tools and culture necessary to support individual growth. We believe that growth is primarily accomplished within the scope of our associates' daily work and, if supported with ways to reflect and receive feedback, we can help facilitate and accelerate that growth. Veoneer's size and global reach, combined with its varied product portfolio, provides many opportunities to work in new areas and with new teams. It is important to us to foster an environment that promotes giving and receiving feedback, setting aggressive targets and doing so in a transparent way. We have processes in place to foster this behavior and we have desired behaviors defined to set goals for the purpose of recruiting and promoting.
As of December 31, 2020, we had a total of approximately 7,543 total associates, with 4,476 engineering, 1,452 in direct manufacturing and the remaining 1,615 in production and SG&A overhead functions. Included in these figures are approximately 1,359 temporary associates, and within engineering, more than two thirds of the associates worked as software engineers.
We compete in a market that involves rapidly changing technological and other developments, which requires us to attract and employ a workforce with broad expertise and intellectual capital. Our future success depends in large part on our ability to attract, train, retain and motivate qualified personnel. To facilitate talent attraction and retention, we are committed to making Veoneer a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers.
We are committed to maintaining, and fostering a culture of fairness and equity, where all of us act with the highest ethics and integrity, where unethical conduct is not tolerated, and where everyone feels empowered to speak up and raise concerns. Employee training is used to reinforce these values across all employees globally. Annual participation in trainings related to ethics, environment, health and safety, and emergency responses are at or near 100%.
We consider our relationship with our personnel to be strong. We have not had any disputes which are significant or had a lasting impact on our relationship with our employees, customer perception of our employee practices or our business results. Major unions to which some of our employees belong in Europe include: IG Metall in Germany; Unite in the United Kingdom; Confédération Générale des Travailleurs, Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail, and Force Ouvrière in France; and If Metall, Unionen, Sveriges Ingenjörer and Akademikerföreningen in Sweden. In addition, our employees in other regions are represented by the following unions: Unifor and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (“IAM”) in Canada.
We have established competitive compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by country/region and employment classification) include incentive compensation plan, pension, healthcare and insurance benefits, paid time off, family leave, and on-site services, among others. We also use targeted equity-based grants with vesting conditions to facilitate retention of personnel, particularly for our key employees.
The safety and health of our employees is a top priority. We recognize the connection between a safe and healthy workplace and the sustainable success of our company. We believe in healthy work-life balance, emphasizing employee engagement, working together, and having clear expectations. We have implemented a comprehensive Health and Safety Management System, which engages all employees and it guides us in our everyday actions. In 2020, our incident rate, measured as number of reportable injuries per 200,000 employee hours of exposure, was 1.29 (target is lower than 2.0). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented significant changes that we determined were in the best interest of our employees, as well as the communities in which we operate, and which comply with government regulations. This includes having the vast majority of our employees work from home, while implementing additional safety measures for employees continuing critical on-site work.
Inventory and Working Capital
We, as with other component manufactures in the automotive industry, ship our products to customer vehicle assembly facilities throughout the world on a “just-in-time” basis for our customers to maintain low inventory levels. Our suppliers (external suppliers as well as our own production sites) use a similar method in providing raw materials or sub-assemblies to us. In certain situations Veoneer utilizes consignment inventories with our supply base.
Sources and Availability of Raw Materials and Sub-Components
We procure our raw materials and components from a variety of suppliers around the world. Generally, we seek to obtain materials in the region in which our products are manufactured to minimize transportation, currency risks and other costs. The most significant raw materials we use to manufacture our products are various electronic semi-conductor components and ferrous metals for brake systems. From 2018 through mid-2020 we did not experience any significant supply shortages and therefore did not carry inventories more than those reasonably required to meet our production and shipping schedules. During 2020, however, the automotive industry experienced dramatic declines in LVP during the first half, and an unprecedented rebound in the second half. This global development, which was witnessed across multiple industries, has created serious challenges for supply of electronic components, and specifically semiconductors. We expect the tightness in supply to affect global LVP during the first half of 2021. Currently, the effects are difficult to quantify, and we monitor and manage this situation daily.
Commodity cost volatility is a challenge for us and our industry. We are continually seeking to manage these costs using a combination of strategies, including working with our suppliers to mitigate costs, seeking alternative product designs and material specifications, continuous improvement VEVAs (Value Engineering, Value Analysis), combining our purchase requirements with our customers and/or suppliers, changing suppliers, hedging certain commodities and other means. Our overall success in passing commodity cost increases on to our customers has been limited. We will continue our efforts to pass market-driven commodity cost increases to our customers in an effort to mitigate all or some of the adverse earnings impacts, including by seeking to renegotiate terms as contracts with our customers expire.
Seasonality
Our business is moderately seasonal. Our European customers generally reduce production during the months of July and August and for one week in December. Our North American customers historically reduce production during the month of July and halt operations for approximately one week in December. Our Chinese customers generally reduce production during the Chinese New Year period in February. Shut-down periods in the rest of the world generally vary by country. In addition, automotive production is traditionally reduced in the months of July, August and September due to the launch of parts production for new vehicle models. Accordingly, our results reflect this seasonality. In addition, engineering reimbursement tends to be skewed towards the fourth quarter.
Environmental Compliance
We are subject to various environmental regulations governing, among other things: (i) the generation, storage, handling, use, transportation, presence of, or exposure to hazardous materials; (ii) the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; (iii) the incorporation of certain chemical substances into our products, including electronic equipment; and (iv) the health and safety of our employees.
Most of the Company’s manufacturing processes consist of the assembly of components. As a result, the environmental impact from the Company’s plants is generally modest. While our businesses from time to time are subject to environmental investigations, there are no material environmental-related cases pending against the Company. Therefore, we do not incur (or expect to incur) any material costs or capital expenditures associated with maintaining facilities compliant with U.S. or non-U.S. environmental requirements. To reduce environmental risk, the Company has implemented an environmental policy and an environmental management system in all plants globally and all plants are externally ISO14001 certified.
We are subject to various U.S. federal, state and local, and non-U.S., laws and regulations, including those related to environmental, health and safety, financial and other matters. We cannot predict the substance or impact of pending or future legislation or regulations, or the application thereof. The introduction of new laws or regulations or changes in existing laws or regulations that impact our business, or the interpretations thereof, could increase the costs of doing business for us or our customers or suppliers or restrict our actions and adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and cash flows.
We are also required to obtain permits from governmental authorities for certain of our operations.
Dependency on Government Contracts
We are not dependent on government contracts. Some R&D projects are partly financed by certain government agencies.
Spin-Off Related Agreements
As part of the Spin-Off, Autoliv underwent an internal reorganization, pursuant to which, among other things and subject to limited exceptions, all of the assets and liabilities (including whether accrued, contingent or otherwise, and subject to certain exceptions) associated with the electronics business of Autoliv were retained by or transferred to Veoneer or our subsidiaries and all other assets and liabilities (including whether accrued, contingent or otherwise, and subject to certain exceptions) of Autoliv were retained by or transferred to Autoliv or its subsidiaries (other than Veoneer).
Following the Spin-Off, the Company and Autoliv began operating independently and neither has any ownership interest in the other. To govern certain ongoing relationships between Veoneer and Autoliv after the Spin-Off and to provide mechanisms for an orderly transition, the Company and Autoliv entered into agreements pursuant to which certain services and rights are provided for following the Spin-Off, and the Company and Autoliv are obligated to indemnify each other against certain liabilities arising from our respective businesses.
Distribution Agreement
In connection with the internal reorganization, we entered into a Master Transfer Agreement with Autoliv which was amended and restated effective as of the Spin-Off (the “Distribution Agreement”). The Distribution Agreement governs certain transfers of assets and assumptions of liabilities by each of Veoneer and Autoliv and the settlement or extinguishment of certain liabilities and other obligations among the companies and their subsidiaries. In particular, substantially all of the assets and liabilities associated with the separated Electronics business were retained by or transferred to Veoneer or its subsidiaries and all other assets and liabilities were retained by or transferred to Autoliv or its subsidiaries. The Distribution Agreement also provided the principal corporate transactions required to affect the Spin-Off, certain conditions to the Spin-Off and provisions governing the relationship between Veoneer and Autoliv with respect to and resulting from the completion of the Spin-Off. The Distribution Agreement also provides for indemnification obligations designed to make the Company financially responsible for substantially all liabilities that may exist relating to its business activities, whether incurred prior to or after the completion of the internal reorganization, as well as those obligations of Autoliv assumed by us pursuant to the Master Transfer Agreement; provided, however, certain warranty, recall and product liabilities for Electronics products manufactured prior to the completion of the internal reorganization were retained by Autoliv and Autoliv will indemnify us for any losses associated with such warranty, recall or product liabilities.
Employee Matters Agreement
The Employee Matters Agreement governs Autoliv’s and Veoneer’s compensation and employee benefit obligations with respect to the current and former employees and non-employee directors of each company. Under the agreement, Autoliv is responsible for liabilities associated with Autoliv allocated employees and liabilities associated with former employees and Veoneer is responsible for liabilities associated with Veoneer allocated employees, but Autoliv retains and continues to be responsible for certain post-retirement liabilities relating to plans sponsored by Autoliv. The Employee Matters Agreement provided for the conversion of the outstanding awards granted under the Autoliv equity compensation programs into adjusted awards relating to both shares of Autoliv and Veoneer common stock.
Tax Matters Agreement
The Tax Matters Agreement governs the respective rights, responsibilities and obligations of Autoliv and Veoneer with respect to tax liabilities and benefits, tax attributes, tax contests and other tax sharing regarding U.S. federal, state, local and foreign income taxes, other tax matters and related tax returns. The agreement also specifies the portion, if any, of this tax liability for which Veoneer will bear responsibility and provides for certain indemnification provisions with respect to amounts for which they are not responsible. In addition, under the agreement, each party is expected to be responsible for any taxes imposed on Autoliv that arise from the failure of the Spin-Off and certain related transactions to qualify as a tax-free transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Amended and Restated Transition Services Agreement
Under the Amended and Restated Transition Services Agreement (“TSA”), Autoliv and Veoneer agreed to provide to each other certain services for a limited time to help ensure an orderly transition following the Spin-Off. The TSA terminated on April 1, 2020.
Available Information
We file or furnish with the SEC periodic reports and amendments thereto, which include annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and other information. Such reports, amendments, proxy statements and other information are made available free of charge on our corporate website at www.veoneer.com and are available as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Paper copies of the above-mentioned documents can be obtained free of charge from the Company by contacting our Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at: Veoneer, Inc., Box 13089, SE-103 02, Stockholm, Sweden or Veoneer, Inc., 26360 American Drive, Southfield, MI 48034 or http://www.veoneer.com.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Owning our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the following risk factors and all other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of the following risks, as well as additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial but are in fact material, occur, our business, liquidity, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. If this were to happen, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly, and you could lose all or a part of the value of your ownership in our common stock. Some statements in this Annual Report, including statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. Please refer to the section in this Annual Report entitled “Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risk Factor Summary:
The risk factors detailed in Item 1A entitled “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the risks that we believe are material to our investors and a reader should carefully consider them. Below is a summary of the risk factors detailed in Item 1A. This summary does not address every aspect of our risks factors, all of the risks that we face, or other factors not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial.
•Our estimate of total addressable market is subject to numerous uncertainties. If we have overestimated the size of our total addressable market now or in the future, our future growth rate may be limited.
•Our reported order intake and the value of our order book are not necessarily indicative of future net sales revenues and are subject to a number of uncertainties. If the order intake fails to translate into future net sales revenue it may adversely affect our business.
•A prolonged recession and/or a downturn in LVP could adversely affect our business and require impairments or restructuring actions or require us to seek additional sources of financing to continue our operations, which may not be available to us or be available only on materially different terms than what has historically been available.
•Changes in our product mix may impact our financial performance.
•Our business may be adversely affected by regulations affecting the automobile safety and autonomous driving markets.
•We may not be able to anticipate changing customer and consumer preferences or respond quickly enough to changes in technology and standards to be able to develop and introduce commercially viable products.
•We are subject to risks associated with the development and implementation of new manufacturing process technology.
•We may not be able to adequately protect or monetize our intellectual property rights in internally-developed or acquired technologies, which could result in the loss of our rights, limit our ability to compete, increased costs lost revenue.
•We operate in developing and highly competitive markets.
•Escalating pricing pressures from our customers may adversely affect our business.
•Our business could be materially and adversely affected if we lost significant customers or if they were unable to pay their invoices.
•Our inability to effectively manage the timing, quality and costs of new product launches could adversely affect our financial performance.
•Disruptions in our supply or delivery chain, or those of our customers, could cause one or more of our customers to halt or delay production and adversely affect our financial performance.
•Changes in the source, cost, availability of and regulations pertaining to raw materials and components may adversely affect our profit margins.
•We may incur material losses and costs as a result of product liability, warranty and recall claims that may be brought against us or our customers.
•We face risks in connection with identifying and successfully completing strategic acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies and/or collaborative arrangements with strategic partners.
•We may not have sufficient resources to fund our operating costs or all of our future research and development and capital expenditures or possible acquisitions or joint ventures.
•Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited, which could limit our business plan or adversely affect the rights of our stockholders.
•Our business may be adversely affected if our policies and procedures do not adequately protect our employees or others or otherwise meet the requirements of applicable laws or regulations.
•We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.
•Our business and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected by COVID-19.
•Impairment charges relating to our assets, goodwill and other intangible assets could adversely affect our financial performance.
•We face risks related to our defined benefit pension plans and employee benefit plans, including the need for additional funding as well as higher costs and liabilities.
•Cybersecurity incidents could disrupt our products or business operations, result in damages or loss of confidence in our products, or the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
•Our board of directors may change significant corporate policies without stockholder approval.
•or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable.
•The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate widely.
•Future issuances of common stock by us may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
•Your ownership in our common stock may be diluted by additional equity issuances.
•We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock, and certain factors could limit our ability to pay dividends in the future.
•Veoneer SDR holders do not have the same rights as our stockholders.
Risks Related to our Industry & Global Market
Our estimate of total addressable market is subject to numerous uncertainties. If we have overestimated the size of our total addressable market now or in the future, our future growth rate may be limited.
The Company’s estimates of total addressable market, or TAM, are based on a variety of inputs, including production estimates per product group (which are largely based on global light vehicle production (LVP) data and estimates from IHS Markit), content per vehicle, or CPV, estimates, the Company’s own market insights, estimates as to the pace and extent of standard-setting and regulatory change, internal market intelligence on prices and penetration/adoption rates of each expected product group and the Company’s history operating in the market (including, among other things, its order and bid experience).
We have not independently verified any third-party information, including LVP estimates by IHS Markit, and cannot assure you of its accuracy or completeness. While we believe our market size estimates are reasonable, such information is inherently imprecise. For example, IHS Markit’s January 2021 estimates of LVP for 2021-2024 were reduced by approximately 69 million vehicles compared to forecasts in July 2018 (around the time of the completion of our spin-off from Autoliv). If IHS Markit or other third-party or internally-generated data used in our estimates proves to be inaccurate or we make errors in our assumptions based on such data, our actual market may be more limited than our estimates. In addition, these inaccuracies or errors may cause us to misallocate capital and other critical business resources, which could harm our business. Even if our total addressable market meets our size estimates and experiences growth, we may not continue to grow our share of the market. Our growth is subject to many factors, including the successful implementation of our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the estimates of our TAM included in this Annual Report should not be taken as indicative of our ability to grow our business.
Our reported order intake and the value of our order book are not necessarily indicative of future net sales revenues and are subject to a number of uncertainties. If the order intake fails to translate into future net sales revenue it may adversely affect our business.
We monitor order intake to make certain predictions related to our capital needs and expenditures and in providing long-term targets, earnings guidance and estimates. Our order intake is the estimated future average annual sales attributable to documented new business awarded based on estimated average annual product volumes, average annual sales price for such products over their anticipated life, and exchange rates. Order intake is not recorded as revenue until the order is completed. The aggregate value of order intake is considered our “order book” and is part of it until the products are manufactured and delivered to customers and we realize net sales revenue from such orders. Since the general lead time from an “order” to the start of production in the automotive industry is three to four years, and it may take several more months for production of a certain vehicle model to fully ramp up, the assumptions we use to determine order intake may no longer be accurate at the time production begins or the order is completed.
To determine our estimated order intake, we make several assumptions related to vehicle production in a particular year of a particular model, annual product values, sales prices for such products and exchange rates. If any of the inputs to these assumptions fail to materialize as we expect, the net sales revenue actually realized may be adversely impacted. We cannot predict when our customers will decide to either increase or reduce inventory levels or whether new inventory levels will approximate historical inventory levels. Our customers generally do not guarantee order volumes. The commercial success of the vehicle models that include our products will also impact whether our order intake translates into net sales revenue. Finally, any significant reduction in automotive sales and/or LVP by our customers, whether due to general economic conditions or any other factors relevant to sales or LVP, will likely have a material adverse effect on whether net sales revenue is ultimately realized from our estimated order book.
A prolonged recession and/or a downturn in LVP could adversely affect our business and require impairments or restructuring actions, or require us to seek additional sources of financing to continue our operations, which may not be available to us or be available only on materially different terms than what has historically been available.
Our business is related to global LVP and automotive sales and LVP are critical drivers for our sales. The automotive market experienced a significant decline in LVP during 2020 and has just recently started to show indications of recovery. A prolonged downturn in or uncertainty relating to global or regional economic conditions, including as a result of the coronavirus global pandemic (COVID-19), or any significant reduction in automotive sales and/or LVP by our customers, may result in the delay or cancellation of plans to purchase our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We have a substantial number of important product and program launches in the next 18 months. These launches are important from both a sales and cash flow perspective. A downturn in global economic conditions or LVP, or uncertainty with respect thereto, could delay our customers' production plans and/or volumes and the return on our investment in R&D and the resources expended to ensure timely and quality launches. Given the high costs of such investments, such a downtown, and any losses resulting from customer defaults, could result in us experiencing a significant negative cash flow.
Any such adverse impacts could require us to shut down plants or result in impairment charges, restructuring actions or changes in our valuation allowances against deferred tax assets, which could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. Deteriorating global economic conditions and/or deteriorating performance of our business may also have a negative impact on our market capitalization, which could also result in impairment charges. For example, given our market capitalization, further decreases in our market capitalization may necessitate additional impairment testing. A determination of that an impairment has occurred could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
Any significant negative cash flow could also result in us having insufficient funds to continue our operations unless we can procure external financing, which may not be possible. Our ability to obtain external financing on favorable terms could be limited by instability in the global credit markets and global economic pressure. If external financing is unavailable to us when necessary, we may have insufficient funds to continue our operations.
Changes in our product mix may impact our financial performance.
We sell products that have varying profit margins. Our financial performance can be impacted depending on the mix of products we sell during a given period. Our earnings guidance and estimates assume a certain geographic sales mix as well as a product sales mix based on market expectations. There is a risk that the mix of offerings by our customers and demand for such offerings could change. If actual results vary from this projected geographic and product mix of sales, it could have an unfavorable impact on our revenue and our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Our business may be adversely affected by regulations affecting the automobile safety and autonomous driving markets.
Government vehicle safety regulations are a key driver in our business. Historically, these regulations have imposed ever more stringent safety regulations for vehicles. Safety regulations have a positive impact on driver awareness and acceptance of active safety products and technology. These more stringent safety regulations often require vehicles to have more safety CPV and more advanced safety products, including active safety and driver assistance technology, which is a growth driver for the Company.
However, because growth in global LVP is highly concentrated in markets such as China and India, which have historically required less safety CPV, our results of operation may suffer if the safety CPV remains low in our growth markets. As safety CPV is also an indicator of our sales development, if this trend continues, the average safety systems per vehicle could decline.
Changes in legislative, regulatory or industry requirements related to vehicle safety content may also render certain of our products obsolete or less attractive to our customers. Vehicle safety content requirements are subject to change based on a number of factors that are not within our control, including new scientific or medical data, adverse publicity regarding autonomous vehicles or technology, domestic and foreign political developments or considerations, and litigation relating to our products and our competitors’ products. Changes in government regulations in response to these and other considerations could have a severe impact on our business. If government priorities shift and we are unable to adapt to changing regulations, our business may suffer material adverse effects.
The regulatory obligation of complying with safety regulations could increase as federal and local regulators impose more stringent compliance and reporting requirements in response to product recalls, safety issues and product innovations in our industry. In the U.S., we are subject to the existing Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act, which requires manufacturers to comply with “Early Warning” requirements by reporting to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) information related to defects or reports of death related to their products. TREAD imposes criminal liability for violating such requirements if a defect subsequently causes death or bodily injury. In addition, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act authorizes NHTSA to require a manufacturer to recall and repair vehicles that contain safety defects or fail to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards. In September 2016, U.S. Department of Transportation issued a Federal Automated Vehicles Policy as agency guidance for comment rather than in a rulemaking in order to enable the delivery of an initial regulatory framework and best practices to guide manufacturers and other entities in the safe design, development, testing, and deployment of highly automated vehicles. Since September 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued voluntary “guidance” for autonomous vehicle (AV) standards, including “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies – Automated Vehicles 4.0” dated January 2020, to promote autonomous vehicle development. It is unknown when specific U.S. regulations for AVs may be released and what, if any, impact such regulations may have on us or our customers in terms of products, features and performance requirements.
As our technologies advance and develop beyond traditional automotive products, we may be subject to regulatory regimes beyond traditional vehicle safety rules and requirements. As a result, we may not identify all regulatory licenses or permits required for our products, or our products may operate beyond the scope of the licenses and permits we have obtained. Failing to obtain the required licenses, permits or other regulatory authorizations could result in investigations, fines or other penalties or proceedings. If any of the regulatory risks described above materialize, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our business is exposed to risks inherent in international operations.
We currently conduct operations in various countries and jurisdictions, including locating certain of our manufacturing and distribution facilities internationally, which subjects us to the legal, political, regulatory and social requirements and economic conditions in these jurisdictions. International sales and operations subject us to certain risks inherent in doing business abroad, including exposure to local economic and political conditions, foreign tax consequences, issues with enforcing legal agreements, currency controls, imposition of tariffs, supply chain issues, preferences of foreign nations for domestically manufactured products, and concerns about human rights, working conditions and other labor rights and conditions and the environmental impact in foreign countries where our products are produced and raw materials and/or components are sourced. These risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.
For example, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) significantly changed the taxation of U.S. based multinational corporations, including, inter alia, reducing the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, creating new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings and a new minimum tax calculated on certain U.S. outbound payments. We have completed our accounting for the impact of the Tax Act as of December 22, 2018 based on published guidance. We expect that the U.S. Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and state tax authorities will be issuing additional guidance on how the provisions of the Tax Act will be applied or otherwise administered, and such guidance may be different from our current
interpretation. The legislation could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, any of which could materially lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. As regulations and guidance evolve with respect to the Tax Act, and as we gather information and perform more analysis, our results may differ from previous estimates and may materially affect our financial position. Changes in tax laws or policies by foreign jurisdictions could result in a higher effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings and such change could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Additionally, the prior U.S. administration initiated substantial changes in U.S. trade policy and U.S. trade agreements, including the initiation of tariffs on certain foreign goods, and created uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and certain of its trading partners. It is not yet clear how the new U.S. administration may alter or otherwise affect these relationships. The U.S entered into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on July 1, 2020. The USMCA changes the automotive rules of origin that dictate what percentage of an automobile must be built from parts that originated from countries in the North American region. The automotive industry is highly dependent on duty-free trade within the USMCA free trade region. A trade war, trade barriers or other governmental actions related to tariffs, international trade agreements, import or export restrictions or other trade policies could adversely impact demand for our products, our costs, customers, suppliers and/or the U.S. economy or certain sectors thereof and, therefore, adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are exposed to exchange rate risks.
We have currency exposures related to buying, selling and financing in currencies other than the local currencies of the countries in which we operate. We are particularly vulnerable to a strong U.S. dollar as certain raw materials and components are sourced in U.S. dollars while sales are also currently in other currencies, like the Euro. Our risks include:
•transaction exposure, which arises because the cost of a product originates in one currency and is sold in another currency;
•revaluation effects, which arise from valuation of assets denominated in currencies than the unit reporting currency;
•translation exposure in the income statement, which arises when the income statements of non-U.S. subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars;
•translation exposure in the balance sheet, which arises when the balance sheets of non-U.S. subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars; and
•changes in the reported U.S. dollar amounts of cash flows.
For example, in 2020 the Company’s gross transaction exposure was approximately $0.9 billion, with a net exposure of $0.6 billion due to counter-flows. The largest net transaction exposures were the sale of Euro against the U.S. Dollar, the purchase of U.S. Dollar against Korean Won and the sale of Euro against Romanian Leu. In 2020, the five largest currency pairs accounted for approximately 86% of the Company’s net currency transaction exposure. These exchange rate risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Technology and Product Development
We may not be able to anticipate changing customer and consumer preferences or respond quickly enough to changes in technology and standards to be able to develop and introduce commercially viable products.
Our ability to maintain and improve existing products, anticipate changes in technology, regulatory and other standards, and to successfully develop and introduce new and enhanced technologies and products on a timely basis will be a significant factor in our ability to be competitive and gain market acceptance. If we are unsuccessful or are less successful than our competitors in predicting the course of market development and perceptions of drivers regarding autonomous driving capabilities and solutions, developing innovative products, processes, and/or use of materials, or adapting to new technologies or evolving regulatory, industry or customer requirements, we will suffer from a competitive disadvantage. Further, the global automotive industry is experiencing a period of significant technological change, including the development of combined software and system-on-chip (SoC) hardware solutions to handle the influx of information coming into vehicles from increasing numbers of sensors and efficiently manage multilevel processing in real time while operating within a system's power budget. As a result, the success of portions of our business requires us to develop, acquire and/or incorporate new technologies. We may need to adjust our strategy and projected timelines based on how these technological challenges evolve over time. There is a risk that these challenges will not be overcome, and that our investments in R&D initiatives will not lead to successful new products and a corresponding increase in revenue, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may be unable to meet the expectations of our customers with respect to the timely development and performance of new technologies.
Because our products are technologically complex and innovative, it can take a significant amount of time to complete development. Development delays resulting from the challenges of integrating new functionality into vehicles and the evolution of our customers’ performance requirements during the development cycle subject us to the risk that our customers cancel or postpone a contract in the time period that it takes us to begin production of a particular product. If we are unable to develop and deliver innovative and competitive products, or unable to do so with desired performance characteristics within the same timeframe as our competitors, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
We are subject to risks associated with the development and implementation of new manufacturing process technology.
We may not be successful or efficient in developing or implementing new production processes. We are continually engaged in the transition from our existing process to the next-generation process technology. This consistent innovation involves significant expense and carries inherent risks, including difficulties in designing and developing next-generation process technologies, development and production timing delays, lower than anticipated manufacturing yields, and product defects and errors. Production issues can lead to increased costs and may affect our ability to meet product demand, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Additionally, scaling our business has become increasingly critical to our success as OEMs have adopted global vehicle platforms and sought to increase standardization, reduce per unit cost and increase capital efficiency and profitability. We are investing in technologies that are intended to become the architecture for other products. If we are not able to scale according to our current expected timelines and needs of our current and prospective customers, we will lose the trust of our customers and our customer relationships may suffer.
We may not be able to adequately protect or monetize our intellectual property rights in internally-developed or acquired technologies, which could result in the loss of our rights, limit our ability to compete, increased costs, and lost revenue.
We have developed a considerable amount of proprietary technology related to our products and rely on a number of patents to protect our intellectual property rights in such technology. Our intellectual property plays an important role in maintaining our competitive position in a number of the markets we serve. In addition to our in-house research and development efforts, we have acquired and may continue to seek to acquire, rights to new intellectual property through corporate acquisitions, asset acquisitions, licensing and joint venture arrangements. Developments or assertions by or against us relating to our intellectual property rights could negatively impact our business. If claims alleging patent, copyright or trademark infringement are brought against us and are successfully prosecuted against us, they could result in substantial costs.
If we are not able to protect our owned or licensed intellectual property rights against infringement or unauthorized use, we could lose those rights and/or incur substantial costs policing and defending those rights. Our means of protecting our intellectual property may not be adequate, and our competitors may independently develop technologies that are similar or superior to our proprietary technologies, or design around the patents we own or license. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as the laws of the U.S. If we cannot protect our proprietary technology, we could experience a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition, certain of our products utilize components that are developed by third parties and licensed to us or our joint ventures. If claims alleging patent, copyright or trademark infringement are brought against such licensors and successfully prosecuted, they could result in substantial costs, and we may not be able to replace the functions provided by these licensors. Alternate sources for the technology currently licensed to us may not be available in a timely manner, may not provide the same functions as currently provided or may be more expensive than products currently used. Additionally, there is a risk that any patents owned or licensed by us may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, limiting competitive advantage of affected products or technologies. Furthermore, as part of our business strategy, we may from time to time seek to acquire businesses or assets that provide us with additional intellectual property and technological advantages. We may experience problems integrating acquired technologies into our existing technologies and products, and such acquired intellectual property may be subject to known or contingent liabilities such as infringement claims. These risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Because we develop proprietary technologies internally, as well as through contract arrangements and research collaborations with third parties, there is a risk that our attempts to protect this proprietary information using agreements containing confidentiality, non-disclosure and/or non-use provisions will be unsuccessful. Even if agreements are entered into, these agreements may be breached or may otherwise fail to prevent disclosure, third-party infringement or misappropriation of our proprietary information, may be limited as to their term and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized
disclosure or use of proprietary information. If we increase the value our intellectual property acquired through collaborations and development agreements, more of the technology we depend on could be subject to risks related to protecting these rights.
Some of our products and technologies may use “open source” software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our products or require that we release the source code of certain products subject to those licenses.
Some of our products and technologies may incorporate software licensed under so-called “open source” licenses. In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on origin of the software. Additionally, open source licenses typically require that source code subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. These open source licenses typically mandate that proprietary software, when combined in specific ways with open source software, become subject to the open source license. If we combine our proprietary software in such a way with open source software, we could be required to release the source code of our proprietary software. Few courts have interpreted open source licenses, and the manner in which these licenses may be interpreted and enforced is therefore subject to some uncertainty.
If these risks materialize, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Customer Relationships and Competition
We operate in developing and highly competitive markets.
The market in which we operate are highly competitive. Active safety and driver assistance technology is a developing segment in the automotive industry and is expected to act as a basis for, and enable the development and introduction of, commercially viable autonomous vehicles. Among other factors, our products compete on the basis of price, quality, manufacturing and distribution capability, design and performance, technological innovation, delivery and service. Our ability to compete successfully depends, in large part, on our ability to innovate and manufacture products that have commercial success with consumers, differentiate our products from those of our competitors, deliver quality products in the time frames required by our customers, create confidence in our financial stability and achieve best-cost production.
We compete with a number of companies that design, produce and sell similar products. Some of our competitors as well as some of our customers have strategic relationships with other customers or outside partners, enabling them to pool resources. Some of our competitors are subsidiaries (or divisions, units or similar) of companies that are larger than we are and have greater financial and other resources than us. Additionally, some of our competitors may also have “preferred status” as a result of special relationships or ownership interests with certain customers. Furthermore, the number of competitors may increase as suppliers from outside the traditional automotive industry, such as Waymo, Argo, Lyft, Cruise, Samsung, Panasonic, Here, Tesla, Intel, NVIDIA and other technology companies, consider the significant business opportunities presented by autonomous driving. The evolving nature of the competitive landscape creates greater uncertainty than the traditional automotive market.
Furthermore, our ability to create confidence in our customers and potential customers that we have the financial strength and resources to support their ambitious programs and can timely deliver quality products over the life of a vehicle program will also be a significant factor in our ability to be competitive. Because the supply chain in our industry is very complex and many of our competitors have greater financial resources, our customers and potential customers may consider us as a supply risk and become concerned that we will be unable to continue to provide products to them at a quality level that meets their needs. If we are unable to create confidence in our financial position, customers may choose other suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Products and services provided by companies outside the automotive industry may also reduce demand for our products, which require substantial investment in research and development. For example, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in consumer preferences for mobility on demand services, such as car- and ride-sharing, as opposed to automobile ownership, which may result in a long-term reduction in the number of vehicles per capita. Today, in most markets, active safety products are considered to be premium equipment rather than standard automotive safety items, which can create significant volatility in demand for certain of our products.
The discontinuation, lack of commercial success, or loss of business with respect to a customer or particular vehicle model for which we are a significant supplier could reduce our sales and harm our profitability.
A number of our customer contracts require us to supply a customer’s annual requirements for a particular vehicle model and assembly facilities, rather than for manufacturing a specific quantity of products. Such contracts range from one year to the life
of the model, which is generally four to seven years. These contracts are often subject to renegotiation, sometimes as frequent as on an annual basis, which may affect product pricing, and generally may be terminated by our customers at any time. The unpredictable nature of such customer contracts has made, and may continue to make, our sales variable. Furthermore, the discontinuation of, the loss of business with respect to, or a lack of commercial success of a customer or particular vehicle model or brand for which we are a significant supplier could reduce our sales and harm our profitability.
Escalating pricing pressures from our customers may adversely affect our business.
The automotive supplier industry continues to experience increasingly aggressive pricing pressure from OEMs. This trend is partly attributable to the major automobile manufacturers’ strong purchasing power. As an automotive component manufacturer, we may be expected to quote fixed prices or be forced to accept prices with annual price reduction commitments for long-term sales arrangements or discounted reimbursements for engineering work. Price reductions may impact our sales revenue and profit margins. Our future profitability will depend upon, among other things, our ability to successfully design and market technological improvements while maintaining our cost structure and reducing our cost per unit. If we are unable to offset continued price reductions, these price reductions could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected if we lost significant customers or if they were unable to pay their invoices.
We are dependent on a few large customers with strong purchasing power. Business with any given customer is typically split into several contracts (either on the basis of one contract per vehicle model or on a broader platform basis). Additionally, we have no fixed volume commitments from our customers. Thus, even if we have won a bid for business from a customer, there are no guaranteed purchase volumes. The loss of business from any of our largest customers (whether by lower overall demand for vehicles, cancellation of existing contracts or the failure to award us new business) could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Customers may put us on a “new business hold,” which limits our ability to quote or be awarded all or part of their future vehicle contracts if quality or other issues arise in the vehicles for which we were a supplier. Such new business holds range in length and scope and are generally accompanied by a certain set of remedial conditions that must be met before we are eligible to bid for new business. Meeting any such conditions within the prescribed timeframe may require additional Company resources. A failure to satisfy any such conditions may have a material adverse effect on our financial results in the long term.
If one or more of our customers’ facilities cease production or decrease their production volumes, the assets we carry related to our facilities serving such customers may decrease in value because we may no longer be able to utilize or realize them as intended. Where such decreases are significant, such impairments may have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
There is also a risk that one or more of our largest customers are unable to pay our invoices as they become due or that a customer will simply refuse to make such payments given its financial difficulties. If a large customer becomes subject to bankruptcy or similar proceedings whereby contractual commitments are subject to stay of execution and the possibility of legal or other modification, or if a large customer otherwise successfully procures protection against us legally enforcing its obligations, it is likely that we will be forced to record a substantial loss.
Our business in China is subject to especially aggressive competition and is sensitive to economic and market conditions as well as restrictions placed on foreign automakers.
We operate in the highly competitive automotive supply market in China and face competition from both international and smaller domestic manufacturers. Maintaining a strong position in the Chinese market is a key component of our global growth strategy. Our business is sensitive to economic and market conditions that impact automotive sales volumes and growth in China and may be affected if the pace of growth slows as the Chinese market matures or if there are reductions in vehicle demand in China. We anticipate that additional competitors, both international and domestic, may seek to enter the Chinese market, resulting in increased competition. Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced margins and our inability to gain or hold market share. There have been periods of increased market volatility and moderation in the levels of economic growth in China, which resulted in periods of lower automotive production growth rates than those previously experienced. Furthermore, the Chinese government has increased demand for domestic production of electric cars by offering purchase incentives and has restricted foreign automakers from digital mapping within its borders impacting many of our customers’ ability to manufacture self-driving vehicles within China. Many of our customers are not domestic Chinese companies. If our non-Chinese customers are prevented or deterred from doing business in China, it could impair our position in the Chinese market. If we are unable to maintain our position in the Chinese market, the pace of growth slows or vehicle sales in China decrease, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Execution of our Business
Our inability to effectively manage the timing, quality and costs of new product launches could adversely affect our financial performance.
Given the complexity of new product launches implementing innovative technologies, we may experience difficulties managing product quality, timeliness and associated costs. There is a risk that we will not be able to effectively coordinate the activities of our numerous suppliers, or install and certify the equipment needed to produce products for new programs in time for the start of production, or transition our manufacturing facilities and resources to full production for such without adversely affecting production rates or other operational efficiency measures at our facilities. In addition, there is a risk that our customers will not execute on schedule the launch of their new product programs. New product launches require a significant ramp up of costs; however, the sales related to these new programs generally are dependent upon the timing and success of the introduction of new vehicles by our customers. Furthermore, if it becomes necessary to request that our customers cover or share in these costs due to the complexities and changes requested by the customers, this could impact our relationships with our customers and the development of these programs. These negotiations can take considerable time and effort and risk deterioration of our relationships with our customers, and there can be no assurances that any specific negotiations will result in amendments that are beneficial to us on a timely basis.
We have a significant number of new product launches in the next 18 months. As the start of production grows closer for these programs and products, the potential risk related to timeliness and potential costs for failure to deliver timely may increase depending on the program or product as there is less time to implement any necessary changes to these programs even if they are requested by our customers. We may also have contractual liabilities for any such delays. Additionally, any such delays may impact our relationship with our customers and could impact potential future business opportunities. These issues may also be exacerbated due to deteriorating business conditions or declines in LVP. Our inability to effectively manage the timing, quality and costs of these new program launches could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Disruptions in our supply or delivery chain, or those of our customers, could cause one or more of our customers to halt or delay production and adversely affect our financial performance.
We, as with other component manufactures in the automotive industry, ship our products to customer vehicle assembly facilities throughout the world on a “just-in-time” basis to allow our customers to maintain low inventory levels. Our suppliers (external suppliers as well as our own production sites) use a similar method in providing raw materials and components to us. This “just-in-time” method makes the logistics supply chain in our industry very complex and vulnerable to disruptions.
Disruptions in our supply chain such as large recalls or field actions impacting suppliers, facility closures, strikes, electrical outages, critical health and safety and other working conditions issues, pandemic diseases, such as COVID-19, natural disasters or other logistical or mechanical failures, could inhibit our ability to timely deliver on orders. We may also experience disruptions if there are delays in customs processing, including if we are unable to obtain government authorization to export or import certain materials.
In addition, financial pressure and/or instability resulting from a prolonged downturn in or uncertainty relating to global or regional economic conditions, or any significant reduction in automotive sales and/or LVP, may affect our suppliers’ agility and willingness and/or ability to accommodate our commercial demands, including with respect to cost and timing. For example, during 2020, however, we experienced dramatic declines in LVP during the first half, and a significant rebound of demand in the second half. This has impacted multiple industries and created serious supply chain challenges semiconductors. We expect the semiconductor supply constraint to affect the global LVP during at least the first half of 2021, as customers halt production. This may also disproportionately affect the active safety content in vehicles as our products are often "optional" and not standard equipment on vehicles.
When we fail to timely deliver or cause a disruption in our customers’ production, we risk damaging our customer relationship, and may lose the business or have to absorb our own costs for identifying and resolving the ultimate problem as well as expeditiously producing and shipping replacement components or products. Generally, we must also carry the costs associated with “catching up,” such as overtime and premium freight, and may be financially responsible for damages to the customer caused by such delays. During the second half of 2020, for example, all modes of freight have been under increased pressure due to COVID-19 and increased customer demand, and we have incurred significant premium freight costs to ensure timely delivery to our customers.
Similar widespread disruptions in our OEM customers’ supply chains may also cause a halt or delay in production that could adversely affect our business. In particular, if the COVID-19 pandemic causes further prolonged period of travel, commercial
and other similar restrictions, we and our OEM customers could experience more supply chain and production disruptions. The extent to which COIVD-19 impacts our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.
We currently do not have long-term supply contracts with many of our third-party suppliers and make substantially all of our purchases on a purchase order basis. Our standard terms and conditions of purchase require a commitment from our suppliers to produce raw materials or components at the last piece part price accepted by the parties for at least five years following the end of a production contract, and service parts for 15 years after fulfillment of a purchase order. However, not all suppliers accept these terms and, even if accepted, we cannot be assured they will honor their contractual commitments. Autonomous driving solutions are rapidly developing and increasingly complex and require the use of advanced components that may be single-sourced or not easily replaced if the technology or the vendor does not perform as expected or agree to supply on a continuing basis. We expect that it would take approximately 12 to 18 months to transition from a current supplier to new providers for our more advanced components. Such a transition would also likely require a qualification process by our customers.
We may choose to pursue arrangements with suppliers that include commitments to purchase specified quantities over extended periods or nonrefundable deposits or loans in exchange for capacity commitments. If we do so, we may not be able to make any such arrangement in a timely fashion or at all, and any arrangements may be costly, reduce our financial flexibility, and not be on terms favorable to us. To date, we have not entered into such arrangements with our suppliers.
Work stoppages or other labor issues at our customers’ facilities or at our facilities could adversely affect our operations.
Because the automotive industry relies heavily on “just-in-time” delivery of components during the assembly and manufacture of vehicles, a work stoppage or disruption at one or more of our facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business. Similarly, if any of our customers were to experience a work stoppage, that customer may halt or limit the purchase of our products, or a work stoppage at another supplier could interrupt production at one of our customers’ facilities, which would have the same effect. The risk of work stoppage has dramatically increased over the last year as a result of COVID-19. A work stoppage at one or more of our facilities or our customers’ facilities could cause shut-downs of production facilities supplying these products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Changes in the source, cost, availability of and regulations pertaining to raw materials and components may adversely affect our profit margins.
Our business uses a broad range of raw materials and components in the manufacture of our products, many of which are generally available from a number of qualified suppliers. Our industry may be affected from time to time by limited supplies or price fluctuations of certain key components and materials. Price fluctuations may intensify or occur with greater frequency as demand for our principal raw materials and components is significantly impacted by demand in emerging markets. Commercial negotiations with our customers and suppliers may not offset the adverse impact of higher raw material, energy and commodity costs. Even where we are able to pass price increases along to our customer, there may be a lapse of time before we are able to do so such that we must absorb the cost increase. Some of our suppliers may not be able to handle the volatility in commodity costs, which could cause them to experience supply disruptions resulting in delivery or production delays by our suppliers. Risks associated with the cost and availability of raw materials and components could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The SEC requires companies that manufacture products containing certain minerals and their derivatives that are, known as “conflict minerals,” originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries to diligence and report the source of such materials. There are significant consequences associated with complying with these requirements, including diligence efforts to determine the sources of conflict minerals used in our products, changes to our processes or supplies as a result of such diligence and our ability to source “conflict free” materials. Accordingly, these rules could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may incur material losses and costs as a result of product liability, warranty and recall claims that may be brought against us or our customers.
We face risks related to product liability claims, warranty claims and recalls in the event that any of our products actually or allegedly are defective, fail to perform as expected or the use of our products results, or is alleged to result, in bodily injury and/or property damage. We may not be able to anticipate all of the possible performance or reliability problems that could arise with our products after they are released to the market. Additionally, increasing regulation, including reporting requirements, regarding potentially defective products, particularly in the U.S., may increase the possibility that we become involved in additional product liability or recall investigations or claims. There is a risk that our product liability and product recall
insurance will not provide adequate coverage against potential claims, such insurance will not be available in the appropriate markets or that we will not be able to obtain such insurance on acceptable terms in the future. There is also a risk that Autoliv or one of our customers or suppliers may be unable or unwilling to indemnify us for product liability, warranty or recall claims although they are contractually obligated to do so or we may be required to indemnify Autoliv or such customer for such claims, which may significantly increase our exposure and potential loss with respect to any such claims.
There is a risk that our current and future investments in our engineering, design, and quality infrastructure will be insufficient to prevent our products from suffering from defects or other deficiencies and that we will experience material warranty claims and product recalls. This is especially relevant in the dynamic active safety market, which is characterized by accelerated development cycles, fluctuating performance requirements and identification of potential failure modes as well as the the need to integrate products into advanced vehicle environments In the future, we could experience additional material warranty or product liability losses and incur significant costs to process and defend these claims.
We may be involved from time to time in legal proceedings and our business may suffer as a result of adverse outcomes of future legal proceedings.
We may be from time to time involved in litigation, regulatory proceedings and commercial or contractual disputes that may be significant. These matters may include, without limitation, disputes with our suppliers and customers, intellectual property claims, stockholder litigation, government investigations, class action lawsuits, personal injury claims, environmental issues, customs and value added tax (VAT) disputes and employment and tax issues. In such matters, government agencies or private parties may seek to recover from us very large, indeterminate amounts in penalties or monetary damages (including, in some cases, treble or punitive damages) or seek to limit our operations in some way. There is a risk that claims may be asserted against us and their magnitude may remain unknown for long periods of time. These types of lawsuits could require significant management time and attention, and a substantial legal liability or adverse regulatory outcome and the substantial expenses to defend the litigation or regulatory proceedings may have a material adverse effect on our customer relationships, business prospects, reputation, results of operation, cash flows and financial condition. There is a risk that such proceedings and claims will have a material adverse impact on our profitability and consolidated financial position or that our established reserves or our available insurance will not be adequate to mitigate such impact.
Our ability to operate our business effectively could be impaired if we fail to attract and retain high-performing executive officers and other key personnel.
We compete in a market that involves rapidly changing technological and other developments, which requires us to attract and employ a workforce with broad expertise and intellectual capital. Our ability to operate our business and implement our strategies effectively depends, in part, on the efforts of our executive officers and other key employees. In addition, our future success will depend on, among other factors, our ability to attract, develop and retain other qualified personnel, particularly engineers and other employees with software and technical expertise. The loss of the services of any of our senior executives or other key employees or the failure to attract or retain other qualified personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Strategic Acquisitions and Collaborations
We face risks in connection with identifying and successfully completing strategic acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies and/or collaborative arrangements with strategic partners.
Our business’s growth has historically been enhanced through strategic opportunities, including acquisitions of businesses, products and technologies, joint development and collaborations. We may continue to identify and engage in strategic opportunities in the future. However, we may not be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates or collaboration opportunities or complete transactions on acceptable terms, integrate acquired operations into our existing operations or expand into new markets. Our failure to identify and execute suitable strategic opportunities may restrict our ability to grow our business.
Strategic acquisition opportunities involve numerous additional risks to us and our investors, including risks related to retaining acquired management and employees, difficulties in integrating the acquired technology, products, operations and personnel with our existing business, and assumption of contingent liabilities. Consequently, there is a risk that acquisitions may not result in revenue growth, operational synergies or service or technology enhancements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Strategic collaboration opportunities are generally governed by a collaboration agreement that defines certain ways of operation. Our collaborations are generally focused on opening or expanding opportunities for our technologies and supporting
the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products or services). Such activities entail a high degree of risk and often require significant capital investments. We may underestimate the costs and/or overestimate the benefits, including technology, product, revenue, cost and other synergies and growth opportunities, that we expect to realize, and we may not achieve those benefits, or may do so later than expected. The market and customer demand for products and technologies provided by our collaborations may also shift. For example, over the last two years we saw a shift in our customer’s focus to products and systems supporting “Level 2 plus driver assistance” technologies over systems supporting fully autonomous driving as it appears that fully autonomous vehicles will come to market in significant numbers later than previously expected. This required us to shift some of our strategic focus on the near-term customer demands for collaborative driving solutions.
Furthermore, our collaboration partners may be unable or unwilling to meet their economic or other contractual obligations, and we may in some cases and/or for some time choose to fulfill those obligations alone to ensure the ongoing success of collaboration, or we may choose to dissolve and terminate the relationship.
In addition, our collaboration partners may at any time have economic, business or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with our goals or with the goals of the collaboration. Our products and technologies may from time to time overlap with certain aspects of the technologies developed with one of our collaboration partners, which may cause the parties to consider the impact on the contractual relationship. Depending on our level of control over the governance and/or operations of the collaboration, we may be unable to implement actions that we believe are favorable if the collaboration partner does not agree. Disagreements with our collaboration partners may impede our ability to maximize the benefits of our relationship. We may have difficulty resolving disputes with or claims against our partners, which could lead to us bearing liability for claims that we are not responsible for and may have a material adverse impact on the relationship. We may not have access to these technologies or suitable replacements without these collaborations. Our collaboration partners may also choose to develop competing products. We may also depend on our collaboration partners for a go to market strategy for some of our products. If one or more of our collaboration partners are not successful in the go to market strategy or experience operating difficulties or economic uncertainties, the commercial success of and our access to these technologies may be jeopardized and our revenue or product development may be negatively impacted. The above risks, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Capital Structure
We may not have sufficient resources to fund our operating costs or all of our future research and development and capital expenditures or possible acquisitions or joint ventures.
Although we expect our current cash balance, combined with our future cash flows, will address our capital needs through 2022, we cannot be assured that this will be the case. Our operating environment is increasingly challenging, and our business and strategic plans may consume resources faster than we presently anticipate. Specifically, the lower than expected LVP in 2020 and continued uncertainty with respect to LVP levels for the next several years, along with the demand for increased R&D investment to support our order intake, the successful execution of challenging customer projects, and the continued development of our product portfolio, could require more funds than we currently have and potentially result in a future need to raise additional capital. In order to remain competitive, we must make substantial investments in research and development of new or enhanced products. Our products may require significant resources to develop both hardware and software solutions. Challenges of integrating new functionality into vehicles and the evolution of our customers’ performance requirements during development may also increase R&D costs. Customer demands for changes to our products to meet such performance requirements are difficult to predict both in terms of timing and cost. Since our revenue is largely based on sales over time, new customer demands can delay payment for our products which can make it difficult for us to fund these critical up-front investments. We may be unable to fund all of our research and development and capital investment needs or possible acquisitions or joint ventures, and we may have to pass on valuable long-term opportunities that arise. An inability to fund our future R&D, capital expenditures and product development needs could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited, which could limit our business plan or adversely affect the rights of our stockholders.
We may find it necessary to finance future cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or strategic collaborations and licensing arrangements. Our ability to access the capital markets, if needed, on a timely basis or at all will depend on a number of factors, such as investor perceptions of us, our business and the industries in which we operate, general economic conditions, and the state of the financial markets. Failure to successfully raise needed capital on a timely or cost-effective basis could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
In the event of rising interest rates, disruptions in financial markets, negative perceptions of our business or our financial strength, or other factors that would increase our cost of borrowing, we cannot be sure of our ability to raise additional capital, if needed, on terms acceptable to us, and we may be forced to consider alternative transactions (including the sale of non-core/ non-active safety assets on terms our existing security holders perceive as unattractive) in order to fund our operations, repay debt or make new investments, or we may be unable to do so.
Even if we are successful in raising any required funds through additional financings, this may adversely impact our existing security holders. For example, if we raise funds by issuing additional securities, the securities that we issue may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of the holders of our common stock or may be issued at a discount to the market price of our common stock which would result in dilution to our existing stockholders. If we raise additional funds by issuing debt, we may be subject to debt covenants, which could place limitations on our operations. Further, we may incur substantial costs in pursuing future capital and/or financing, including investment banking fees, legal fees, accounting fees, printing and distribution expenses and other costs. We may also be required to recognize non-cash expenses in connection with certain securities we may issue, such as convertible notes and warrants, which will adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to raise required capital on a timely basis, we may be forced to adjust our strategic and business plans to prioritize more essential funding needs. This could result in delaying certain R&D initiatives, which could impact our ability to develop innovative products and technologies. If capital is not available, or is not available on acceptable terms if and when needed, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of market opportunities, develop or enhance our products, or otherwise respond to market changes or competitive pressures could be limited.
Our indebtedness may harm our financial condition and results of operations.
As of December 31, 2020, we have outstanding debt of $181 million. We may incur additional debt for a variety of reasons. Although our significant debt agreements do not have any financial covenants, our level of indebtedness will have several important effects on our future operations, including, (i) a portion of our cash flows from operations will be dedicated to the payment of any interest or could be used for amortization required with respect to outstanding indebtedness; (ii) increases in our outstanding indebtedness and leverage will increase our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic and industry conditions, as well as to competitive pressure; (iii) depending on the levels of our outstanding debt, our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, acquisitions, capital expenditures, general corporate and other purposes may be limited; and (iv) potential future tightening of the availability of capital both from financial institutions and the debt markets may have an adverse effect on our ability to access additional capital.
Risks Related to Government Regulations and Taxes
Our business may be adversely affected if our policies and procedures do not adequately protect our employees or others or otherwise meet the requirements of applicable laws or regulations.
We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations, including those related to the requirements of environmental, occupational health and safety, financial and other matters. We cannot predict the substance or impact of pending or future legislation or regulations, or the application thereof. The introduction of new laws or regulations or changes in existing laws or regulations, or the interpretations thereof, could increase the costs of doing business for us or our customers or suppliers or restrict our actions and adversely affect our cash flows, financial condition and results of operation.
Our operations are subject to environmental and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things, emissions to air, discharges to waters and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of waste and other materials. Environmental laws, regulations, and permits and the enforcement thereof change frequently and have tended to become increasingly stringent over time. The operation of automotive parts manufacturing facilities entails health and safety and environmental risks, and our development processes includes vehicle testing and data collection that could expose employees to risks inherent in driving on public roads and test tracks. Although we employ safety procedures in the design and operation of our facilities and development programs, there is a risk that an accident or injury could occur. Any accident or injury could result in litigation, manufacturing and/or development delays, property loss and/or and harm to our reputation, which could negatively affect our business, results of operation and financial condition. In addition, there is a risk that we will incur material costs or liabilities, including fines and/or penalties, if regulators determine that proper controls were not in place.
We are also subject to local regulations and declarations related to public health issues, including travel bans, quarantines and mandated facility closures implemented in response to local, national or international epidemics or pandemics (such as COVID-19). Any unanticipated limitations on our ability to operate or our employees or contractors’ ability to travel or work could inhibit our ability to maintain customer supply, either directly or through impact on our suppliers.
Due to our global operations, we are also subject to many laws governing our activities in other countries (including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other anti-bribery regulations in foreign jurisdictions where we do business, and the U.S. Export Administration Act), which prohibit improper payments to government officials and restrict where and how we can do business, what information or products we can supply to certain countries and what information we can provide to governmental authorities.
We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.
The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires estimation and significant judgment, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. As a multinational corporation, we are subject to tax in multiple U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions. Our determination of our tax liability is always subject to audit and review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities. Although we are currently under audit in a jurisdiction, we are indemnified by Autoliv for any tax settlements for tax periods prior to April 1, 2018. Any adverse outcome of any such audit or review for tax periods after April 1, 2018 could have a negative effect on our business and the ultimate tax outcome may differ from the amounts recorded in our financial statements and may materially affect our financial results in the period or periods for which such determination is made. There is a risk that our established reserves, which are based on assumptions and estimates that we believe are reasonable to cover such eventualities, may prove to be insufficient. In addition, our future income taxes could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated (or by the incurrence of losses) in jurisdictions that have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated in jurisdictions that have higher statutory tax rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or changes in tax laws, regulations, or accounting principles, as well as certain discrete items.
We may be responsible for U.S. federal income tax liabilities that relate to the distribution under the 2018 Spin-Off from Autoliv.
Autoliv received an opinion from its outside tax counsel to the effect that the distribution of our common stock, together with certain related transactions, should qualify as a transaction that is tax-free under Sections 368(a)(1)(D) and 355 of the Code. The opinion was based on and relied on, among other things, certain facts and assumptions, as well as certain representations, statements and undertakings of Autoliv and the Company, including those relating to the past and future conduct of Autoliv and the Company. If any of these representations, statements or undertakings are, or become, inaccurate or incomplete, or if Autoliv or the Company breach any of their respective covenants in the Spin-Off documents, the opinion of counsel may be invalid and the conclusions reached therein could be jeopardized. Notwithstanding the opinion of counsel, the IRS could determine that the distribution, together with certain related transactions, should be treated as a taxable transaction if the IRS determines that any of these representations, assumptions, or undertakings upon which such opinion was based are incorrect or have been violated or if the IRS disagrees with the conclusions in the opinion of counsel.
If the distribution, together with certain related transactions, is determined to fail to qualify as a transaction that is generally tax-free under Sections 368(a)(1)(D) and 355 of the Code, Autoliv would recognize taxable gain as if it had sold our common stock in a taxable sale for its fair market value, Autoliv stockholders who received our common stock in the distribution would be subject to tax as if they had received a taxable distribution equal to the fair market value of such shares, and we could incur significant liabilities. In addition, if the Spin-Off is not tax-free, Veoneer would be responsible for tax liabilities as allocated by the Tax Matters Agreement.
Risks Related to Our Operations
Our business and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected by COVID-19.
The impact of COVID-19, including widespread illness, pandemic fears and market downturns, restrictions on business and individual activities and changes in consumer behavior, has created significant volatility in the global economy led to a steep drop in economic activity during 2020. This has significantly disrupted, and may continue to disrupt, the automotive industry, LVP and automotive sales in markets around the world. Such disruptions include the manufacturing, delivery and overall supply chain of automobile manufacturers and suppliers. Global LVP decreased significantly and some vehicle manufacturers completely ceased manufacturing operations in some countries and regions, including the United States and Europe during 2020. As a result, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, delays in the production and distribution of our products and the loss of sales to our customers. If the global economic effects caused by the pandemic continue or increase, overall customer demand may continue to decline which would have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if a significant portion of our workforce, our suppliers’ workforce, or our
customers’ workforce are affected by COVID-19 either directly or due to government closures or otherwise, associated work stoppages or facility closures would halt or delay production.
The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, such as the ultimate duration and scope of the outbreak, the availability of effective vaccines, how quickly normal economic conditions, operations, and the demand for our products can resume and whether the pandemic leads to recessionary conditions in any of our key markets. Accordingly, the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations cannot be determined at this time.
In addition to the risks specifically described above, the impact of COVID-19 is likely to implicate and exacerbate other risks disclosed in this Item 1, including our program launches, demand or market acceptance for our products, disruptions in our supply or delivery chain, shifting customer preferences, our employees and cyber-security threats.
Impairment charges relating to our assets, goodwill and other intangible assets could adversely affect our financial performance.
Impairment of our goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets may result from, among other things, deterioration in our performance and especially the cash flow performance of these goodwill assets, adverse market conditions (including a resulting decline in our market capitalization from such adverse market conditions or deteriorating performance) and adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations. If there are changes in these circumstances or the other variables associated with the estimates, judgments and assumptions relating to the valuation of goodwill, when assessing the valuation of our goodwill items, we may determine that it is appropriate to write down a portion of our goodwill or intangible assets and record related non-cash impairment charges. In the event that we determine that we are required to write down a portion of our goodwill items and other intangible assets and thereby record related non-cash impairment charges, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Impairment of goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets may result from, among other things, deterioration in our performance and especially the cash flow performance of these goodwill assets, adverse market conditions (including a resulting decline in our market capitalization from such adverse market conditions or deteriorating performance) and adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations. If there are changes in these circumstances or the other variables associated with the estimates, judgments and assumptions relating to the valuation of goodwill, when assessing the valuation of our goodwill items, we may determine that it is appropriate to write down a portion of our goodwill or intangible assets and record related non-cash impairment charges. In the event that we determine that we are required to write down a portion of our goodwill items and other intangible assets and thereby record related non-cash impairment charges, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
We face risks related to our defined benefit pension plans and employee benefit plans, including the need for additional funding as well as higher costs and liabilities.
Our defined benefit pension plans or employee benefit plans may require additional funding or give rise to higher related costs and liabilities which, in some circumstances, could reach material amounts and negatively affect our results of operations. The performance of the financial markets and interest rates impact these plan expenses and funding obligations. Significant changes in market interest rates, investment losses on plan assets and reductions in discount rates may increase our funding obligations. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that the value of the defined benefit plan assets will be sufficient to meet future funding requirements. If these or other risks were to occur, our required contributions to the plans and the costs and net liabilities associated with the plans could increase substantially and have a material effect on our business.
Cybersecurity incidents could disrupt our products or business operations, result in damages or loss of confidence in our products, or the loss of critical and confidential information, and adversely impact our reputation and results of operations.
We rely extensively on information technology (“IT”) networks and systems, our global data centers and services provided over the internet to process, transmit and store electronic information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes or activities across our facilities worldwide. The secure operation of our IT networks and systems and the proper processing and maintenance of this information are critical to our business operations. We have been, and likely will continue to be, subject to cyber-attacks. To date we have seen no material impact on our business from these attacks or events. Although we seek to deploy comprehensive security measures to prevent, detect, address and mitigate these threats, there has been an increased level of activity, and an associated level of sophistication, in cyber-attacks against large multinational companies. The ever-evolving threats mean we and our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate and adapt our respective systems and processes and overall security environment, as well as those of any companies we acquire. There is no guarantee that these measures will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches, system compromises or misuses of data.
Our security measures may be breached due to human error or malfeasance, system malfunctions or attacks from uncoordinated individuals or sophisticated and targeted measures known as advanced persistent threats, directed at the Company, its products, its customers and/or its third-party service providers.
Disruptions and attacks on our IT systems or the systems of third parties storing our data could result in the misappropriation, loss or corruption of our critical data and confidential or proprietary information, personal information of our employees, and the leakage of our or our customers’ confidential information, improper use of our systems and networks, production downtimes and both internal and external supply shortages, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The potential consequences of a material cybersecurity incident include reputational damage, litigation with third parties, diminution in the value of our investment in research, development and engineering, diversion of the attention of management away from the operation of our business and increased cybersecurity protection and remediation costs, which in turn could adversely affect our competitiveness and results of operations.
We rely on third parties to provide or maintain some of our IT systems, data centers and related services and do not exercise direct control over these systems. There is a risk that security measures implemented at our own and at third party locations may not be sufficient and that our IT systems, data centers and cloud services are vulnerable to disruptions, including those resulting from natural disasters, cyberattacks or failures in third party-provided services. While we obtain assurances that any third parties we provide data to will protect this information and, where we believe appropriate, monitor the protections employed by these third parties, there is a risk the confidentiality of data held by us or by third parties may be compromised and expose us to liability for such breach.
Cyberattacks have become increasingly frequent, sophisticated and globally widespread and could target software embedded in our products. Embedded software code could be compromised during software development or manufacturing processes or within the car itself. Cyberattacks on our products within the car can lead to malfunction or complete damage of the products, which could result into loss of control of the car and its safety features and could cause injuries and significant damage to our reputation and affect our relationships with our customers. Additionally, to the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a misappropriation, loss or damage to our data, or an inappropriate disclosure of our confidential information or our customer’s information, it could also cause significant damage to our reputation, affect our relationships with our customers, lead to claims against us and ultimately harm our business. In addition, we may be required to incur significant costs to protect against or repair damage caused by these disruptions or security breaches in the future. In addition, as the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could result in additional costs. Any future significant cybersecurity compromise or breach of our products, our data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of customer, associate, supplier or Company data, could result in significant costs, lost sales, fines, lawsuits, and damage to our reputation and our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Risks Related to Investing in Our Common Stock and SDRs
Our board of directors may change significant corporate policies without stockholder approval.
Our financing, borrowing and dividend policies and our policies with respect to all other activities, including growth, debt, capitalization and operations, are determined by our board of directors. These policies may be amended or revised at any time and from time to time at the discretion of our board of directors without a vote of our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may change our policies with respect to conflicts of interest provided that such changes are consistent with applicable legal requirements. A change in these policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, the per share trading price of our common stock and our ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends to our stockholders.
Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may make the merger or acquisition of the Company more difficult without the approval of our board of directors. Among other things:
•although we do not have a stockholder rights plan, our certificate of incorporation allows us to authorize the issuance of undesignated preferred stock in connection with a stockholder rights plan or
•otherwise, the terms of which may be established and the shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval, and which may include super voting, special approval, dividend, or other rights or preferences superior to the rights of the holders of common stock;
•we have a classified board of directors, and any director may be removed only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of at least 75% of the voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of voting stock;
•our board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws and our stockholders may only amend our bylaws by the affirmative vote of at least 80% of the voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of voting stock;
•our certificate of incorporation and bylaws permits only our board of directors to call special meetings of stockholders;
•our certificate of incorporation and bylaws do not permit stockholder action by written consent; and
•our bylaws establish advance notice requirements for nominations for elections to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings.
Further, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to provisions of Delaware law, which may impair a takeover attempt that our stockholders may find beneficial. These anti-takeover provisions and other provisions under Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of the Company, including actions that our stockholders may deem advantageous, or negatively affect the trading price of our common stock. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire.
Our certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our current or former directors, officers or stockholders.
Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our stockholders, directors, officers or other employees to us or to our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising out of or pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, (iv) the certificate of incorporation or amended and bylaws, or (v) any action asserting a claim government by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise holding any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provision in our restated certificate of incorporation related to choice of forum. This provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers or employees by limiting our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes.
The market price and trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate widely.
The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly, depending upon many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:
•a shift in our investor base;
•our quarterly or annual earnings, or those of comparable companies;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results;
•our ability to obtain financing as needed;
•changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;
•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations or principles;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant investments, acquisitions or dispositions;
•the failure of securities analysts to cover our common stock;
•changes in earnings estimates by securities analysts or our ability to meet those estimates;
•the operating performance and stock price of comparable companies;
•overall market fluctuations;
•a decline in the automotive market; and
•general economic conditions and other external factors.
Future issuances of common stock by us may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could substantially decrease the market price of our common stock.
In connection with the Spin-Off, we adopted an equity incentive plan in which our employees, non-employee directors and other service providers may participate, under which an aggregate of 3,000,000 shares of our common stock are available for future issuance, plus a number of shares to satisfy equity-based awards that were issued to holders of certain equity awards outstanding under Autoliv’s Amended and Restated Stock Incentive Plan at the time of the Spin-Off. We filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or
exchangeable for shares of our common stock issued pursuant to our equity incentive plan. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statement are available for sale in the open market.
Your ownership in our common stock may be diluted by additional equity issuances.
Your percentage ownership in our common stock could be diluted in the future as a result of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including any equity awards that we grant to our directors, officers and employees. Such awards could have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In addition, our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred shares having such designation, powers, preferences and relative, participating, optional and other special rights as our board of directors generally may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred shares could dilute the voting power or reduce the value of our common stock.
We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock, and certain factors could limit our ability to pay dividends in the future.
The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on shares of our common stock will be at the absolute and sole discretion of our board of directors. Our board of directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur in the future. We have no current plans to pay any cash dividends.
Veoneer SDR holders do not have the same rights as our stockholders.
A Veoneer SDR holder does not have equivalent rights as our holders of common stock, whose rights are governed by U.S. federal law and the Delaware General Corporation Law. The rights of Veoneer SDR holders are set forth and described in to the General Terms and Conditions for Swedish Depository Receipts in Veoneer (the “General Terms and Conditions”). Although the General Terms and Conditions generally allow Veoneer SDR holders to vote in general meetings of stockholders or to be entitled to dividends as if they held our shares of common stock directly, the rights of Veoneer SDR holders differ in some instances from the rights of Veoneer stockholders. In particular, Veoneer SDR holders do not have the ability to nominate directors for election or bring proposals before our annual meeting to the extent provided for in our governing documents or by applicable U.S. state or federal law. Additionally, Veoneer SDR holders may not be able to enforce their rights under the General Terms and Conditions in relation to their SDRs in the same manner as one of our stockholders could with respect to our shares of common stock under applicable U.S. law.
The trading market for Veoneer SDRs may be limited in the future.
There is a risk that a trading market for Veoneer SDRs will not develop or be sustained in the future. Veoneer SDRs traded in Stockholm are not equivalent to a Swedish security being traded on Nasdaq Stockholm. Specifically, Veoneer SDRs represent shares of a U.S. company and are not themselves shares of stock. The lack of an active trading market may make it more difficult for you to sell your Veoneer SDRs and could lead to the price of Veoneer SDRs being depressed or more volatile.