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ECI Sold to Continental!

grayforge

grayforge

Well Known Member
Not sure if this is old news to some, but I just received this press release from ECI:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Antonio, 5/4/2015 - Danbury Aerospace, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to sell its business to the leader in general aviation engines, Continental Motors Group Ltd.

This sale will bring new opportunities for our products in general aviation, and allow Danbury and its subsidiaries that include Engine Components International, Inc., to focus on our strengths and continue to provide the very best engines, parts and services to the market. The sale will be finalized in the next several months, during which Danbury will continue its normal operations. We expect this event to result in greater availability of our products and services.

We will work closely with our customers and vendors for success not only during this transition, but also for success into the future.
 
grayforge said:
Not sure if this is old news to some, but I just received this press release from ECI:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Antonio, 5/4/2015 - Danbury Aerospace, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to sell its business to the leader in general aviation engines, Continental Motors Group Ltd.

This sale will bring new opportunities for our products in general aviation, and allow Danbury and its subsidiaries that include Engine Components International, Inc., to focus on our strengths and continue to provide the very best engines, parts and services to the market. The sale will be finalized in the next several months, during which Danbury will continue its normal operations. We expect this event to result in greater availability of our products and services.

We will work closely with our customers and vendors for success not only during this transition, but also for success into the future.
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I went looking for the ECI news story and found this AvWEB story and AOPA Story backing up your post. Did not find anything about it on the ECI web site yet.
 
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I hate to see this.....It looks like the Chinese are going to buy the entire US GA manufacturing industry.

Glenn Wilkinson
 
Continental Buys ECI

It will be interesting to see if the SEC allows the sale to go through, similar to when Lycoming tried to buy Superior several years ago. ECI says for the time being it is business as usual.
 
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grayforge said:
... Danbury Aerospace, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to sell its business to the leader in general aviation engines, Continental Motors Group Ltd. ...
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I've written many dozens of press releases, and the one thing I hate is the term 'leader' in a pr lead. It was always the sign of a follower.

Leadership is given by your customers, not your barely-out-of-school marketing copy writers. In this case, if you were every asked who the real leader in GA engines is, I doubt Continental would be the first choice. True leaders never have to say it.

Yet, it's nice to have another follower to make the market more competitive.
 
rv6ejguy said:
Buying up the competition. Have to see how that pans out in the long run...
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For whom?

I refer you to Garmin snapping up UPSAT (Apollo). Major competitor disappeared...yikes. Garmin wins, consumer suffers. Law of the jungle.

Don
 
"Suddenly Continental Motors is a player in the active Experimental aircraft market with its purchase of Danbury AeroSpace that includes Titan aircraft engines. Up to this time Continental has had "zero" participation in that important market, said Rhett Ross, director of Continental Motors..."

They've had zero participation since Rhett announced the closing of Teledyne Mattituck Services on Long Island, which had a huge share of the "active Experimental aircraft market" -

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/ContinentalMotors_MattituckServices_Closing_206704-1.html

Perhaps he forgot... :rolleyes:
 
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cfiidon said:
For whom?

I refer you to Garmin snapping up UPSAT (Apollo). Major competitor disappeared...yikes. Garmin wins, consumer suffers. Law of the jungle.

Don
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I was being sarcastic. While the infusion of money into Continental may help fast track some of the new heavy fuel designs, rarely are monopolies good for customer choices or pricing. Chinese ownership of any legacy/ big North American companies is rarely a good thing in the long term. Shareholders may be happy but probably few others.

China is positioning for widespread GA growth once their airspace is opened up. The new, big market will be there when that happens in the next 5-10 years, not the west any more I suspect.
 
majority rules???

...scarier to me, the possibility that if the 'east' gets into GA and light aircraft in a big way, for training if nothing else, that will dictate engine choices, and by association, fuel.
....I see nothing but diesels in that future, and dwindling support for the avgas fleet, largely North American.

..or I could be completely wrong!
.... ..the glass MIGHT be half-full, of 100 LL.
( apologies to Dennis Miller)
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch

ECI has had my 290 hr SNEW cylinders back for repair of worn valve guides for over 11 weeks. I have been told repeatedly during that period they would be done in 7-10 days, now today I'm told the repair shop is shuttered, all employees laid off and they cannot even ship my partially repaired cylinders...MY property, back to me.
I have only a promise they will get back to me, something I've been told over and over the past 2 months.
No slamming intended here, but those are the facts. If they come thru and fix this I'll report it here to be fair.
Tim
 
Way, way, old news. Nothing shocking here. Listen to your expert "custom" engine builders... "Cold dead hands... come to mind."
 
It was told at Oshkosh AirVenture 2015 that ECI PMA parts are no more. The only thing left is Continental Titan Experimental Engines. There is an ECI tent at AirVenture 2015 that I have not stopped in yet to find out more.
 
It was odd to see the Titan guys all wearing Continental shirts. The ECI tent was quite deserted every time I walked past, but the Titan guy was telling me that they sell ECI PMA parts.

It's all very confusing.
 
ECI PARTS

The ECI Continental line is shut down. The ECI Lycoming line will continue to sell parts sometime next week after they complete their inventory count. I was told all customer property will be repaired at another facility or returned around the same time.

Jesse
 
Old topic, I know, but my supplier in the UK is experiencing longer lead times on ECI kit than he has come to expect.

Annoying, as I specifically want some ECI pistons for my Lycoming O-320 to go with the new ECI piston rings I already have.

I'll mix a lot of bits, but bitter experience has taught me that it's better to get pistons and rings from the same source. :eek:
 
I chatted with the ECI folks at Oshkosh, and to say that they are as uncertain about what is goign on as the rest of us is an understatement. Unfortunately for everyone, ECI is undergoing changes that no one seems to understand.
 
Ironflight said:
I chatted with the ECI folks at Oshkosh, and to say that they are as uncertain about what is goign on as the rest of us is an understatement. Unfortunately for everyone, ECI is undergoing changes that no one seems to understand.
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This is scary news for those of us with somewhat "unique" ECi/Titan engine configurations like the O-340 stroker. Less than a year in and I'm already orphaned. :(
 
Not so fast .....

krw5927 said:
This is scary news for those of us with somewhat "unique" ECi/Titan engine configurations like the O-340 stroker. Less than a year in and I'm already orphaned. :(
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I too have a 340.

And I do **NOT** think that we are orphaned.

Have been doing a LOT of testing of the 340 to get a "certain configuration" "dialed in".

My impression is that they expect a LOT in the future from the 340.

Also, what is happening at ECI after the Continental acquisition is NOT surprising to me. I have been through several acquisitions. There is almost always confusion in the beginning. Remember, the acquired company has had YEARS to get the word out about what is happening. Now, we are only two or three weeks after the actual acquisition. Even if was crystal clear to the acquirer, it would take time for the "message" to get out to all the troops.

If the company was not primarily a "marketing-centric" company, then the messaging (even to in house people) will take longer than anyone wants.

The real test is what do they announce that they are killing off and what do they announce "new stuff" for.

So, for now, I plan to keep working with them on the 340. I am one of those who told them some time ago that I thought it could be great for certain RV configurations. I still believe that.

I may be wrong. I hope that I am not.

James

p.s. Once we get through with the "tweaking" I will share info here. Not before. Please respect that.
 
krw5927 said:
This is scary news for those of us with somewhat "unique" ECi/Titan engine configurations like the O-340 stroker. Less than a year in and I'm already orphaned. :(
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There are more O-340 Strokers out there in Carbon Cubs than there are in RVs. I know CubCrafters is going to stand behind the engines they sold and I am pretty sure that what ever they need to keep their fleet of 340s flying will also be available to you.
 
RV6_flyer said:
There are more O-340 Strokers out there in Carbon Cubs than there are in RVs. I know CubCrafters is going to stand behind the engines they sold and I am pretty sure that what ever they need to keep their fleet of 340s flying will also be available to you.
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This sounds great, and I hope it's true, but CubCrafters doesn't make engine parts. And nobody but ECi makes (made?) the stroker crankshaft. Also concerned about warranty support, since I bought my engine from a company that maybe sort of no longer exists.

There's a very lively discussion on the electrical systems section of the forums about what happens when a company gets bought or absorbed by another company in this industry. The folks with legacy Vertical Power products in their panels are finding out all too well the pain of being orphaned.

Of course the hope is that, in this case, the stroker 340 is popular enough that the new owners will decide to continue making them. But hope is not a plan.
 
So correct me if I am wrong here;
Continental, which was bought by the Chinese Government just bought ECI who makes Lycoming clone engines and competitive parts for Lycoming and Continental engines? :confused:
 
SHIPCHIEF said:
So correct me if I am wrong here;
Continental, which was bought by the Chinese Government just bought ECI who makes Lycoming clone engines and competitive parts for Lycoming and Continental engines? :confused:
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Correct. AVIC is a Chinese Company owned by the Chinese Government.

One thing that is for sure, there will be no more ECI Continental parts now that they are part of Continental.
 
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