Dana Inc. CEO Jim Kamsickas has retired, effective immediately, and been replaced by one of the parts manufacturer’s directors until the board finds a more permanent successor. The company’s board also said it’s looking to cut $200 million in annual costs and sell Dana’s off-highway division, which last year rang up sales of nearly $3.2 billion.
Kamsickas had led Ohio-based Dana, which makes axles, driveshafts, transmissions and more for a wide range of vehicles, since the summer of 2015. He is staying with the company in an advisory role until the end of March and will be paid his full salary and benefits before becoming eligible for his severance package. Taking his place is board Chairman Bruce McDonald, who has been a director since 2014 and is a past leader of Adient plc, an automotive seat maker that was part of Johnson Controls until 2016.
“The board and Jim agreed that now is the right time to transition the leadership of Dana, and we thank Jim for his many contributions over his nine years leading the company and wish him all the best,” Keith Wandell, Dana’s lead independent director, said in an announcement.
Kamsickas’ exit comes less than four weeks after he told investors and analysts that Dana’s third quarter had been marked by “further weakening demand for ICE, hybrid and electric vehicles across most mobility markets” because of “ongoing inflationary pressure, global uncertainty and higher vehicle inventory levels.” Despite that, he added, Dana has consistently grown its margins even as it invested heavily in new hybrid and electric technologies.
Providing an early look at 2025, Kamsickas said Dana’s leaders planned to continue to cut costs. As part of the news that he has stepped down, Dana’s directors said the company will make “substantial reductions in selling, general and administrative costs across all the company’s businesses” while adjusting engineering spending reflect the auto sector’s slowdown, specifically when it comes to the adoption of electric vehicles. The goal is to save $200 million annually by 2026, which is roughly 2% of the company’s total costs.
Off-Highway On The Block
On top of that, Dana is putting its off-highway group in the shop window. That business markets drive and motion systems for heavy-duty vehicles in used in agriculture, construction, mining and other industries. The unit generated EBITDA of $334 million on sales of $2.15 billion in the first nine months of this year. Those numbers were 7% and 11%, respectively, from 2023.
Two-thirds of the group’s sales are in Europe, where business is down more than 15% year to date due primarily to soft construction and agriculture markets. (North American revenues of $277 million were up slightly from 2023 levels.) Globally, the division’s top customers are Deere & Co. (9% of sales), Oshkosh Corp. (7%) and Agco Corp. and CNH Industrial NV (6% each).
The Dana board has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. to market the unit, which employed 11,800 people and ran 19 plants at the end of last year.
Word of Kamsickas’ exit and the planned cost cuts gave shares of Dana (Ticker: DAN) a solid bump Nov. 26. In midday trading, they were changing hands around $9.60, up 8% on the day. They are, however, still down roughly 30% over the past six months, a slide that has cut the company’s market capitalization to about $1.4 billion.
