After merger, North Charleston driveshaft maker changes name

A German driveshaft maker with local operations has changed its name after being bought out by another Germany-based automotive company late last year.

Rotorion America LLC, which owns a manufacturing plant in the Ladson area of North Charleston, is now IFA Rotorion North America LLC. The switch comes after the IFA Group acquired Rotorion America’s parent company, Rotorion GmbH, in November 2009.

IFA Rotorion made the announcement during an event at the Ladson facility on Friday. Company officials said the name change was happening now as part of the merger.

IFA Rotorion will be market leader for driveshafts in Europe and the U.S., with an annual production of 2 million units on the Continent alone, the company said in a release.

Rotorion America produced about 800,000 driveshafts at its peak in 2007, but the company was severely affected by the economic downturn. With the merger, officials with the combined company hope for even higher production numbers.

“Strong growth in the first quarter almost brought us to our 2007 levels of production, and our goal is in sight to produce 1 million driveshafts per year by 2012,” said Bernd Klenk, president and chief executive of IFA Rotorion.

IFA Rotorian officials said they expect to produce about 650,000 driveshafts in Ladson in 2010. The company employs about 120 people at the plant.

The IFA Rotorion manufacturing plant in Ladson opened in 2003 as MTU Driveshafts, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler. In 2006 it was sold to Tognum of Germany and renamed Rotorion.