IHS Acquires CSM Worldwide

IHS has announced the acquisition of CSM Worldwide, a leading provider of automotive market forecasting services and strategic advisory solutions to the world's top automotive manufacturers, suppliers and financial organisations. The deal will create a formidable new organisation that will provide best-in-class products and services in the areas of automotive industry data, forecasting and consultancy. The new entity will be known as IHS Automotive once the integration of the companies has been completed.

CSM was founded in 1991 and its core services include the Vehicle Production Forecast, Vehicle Sales Forecast, Powertrain Forecast, Supply Chain & Technology Forecast and Advisory Service. The company has a global reach servicing the automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) environment. CSM delivers comprehensive global analysis based on detailed local market intelligence. More than 85% of the world's top automotive OEMs and suppliers subscribe to CSM for their forecasting needs and strategic planning.

In a joint message to customers, Priscilla Trumbull, IHS Global Insight's vice-president, industry analysis and forecasting and CSM Worldwide's president and CEO Craig Cather, said, "In a world where success or failure depends on solid market planning, CSM Worldwide supplies its customers with the foresight they need to make better, well-informed decisions oriented to the highest return at the least risk. The combined talent, technology and vision of IHS Global Insight and CSM Worldwide colleagues will enable us to enhance and expand our automotive products and services to better meet your needs, resulting in a superior experience for you. We will continue to support all existing products and platforms from IHS Global Insight while looking for enhancements and new opportunities to improve our service to customers. During this process, we will keep you fully informed about how CSM and IHS Global Insight will be combined to add greater benefit for you."

Outlook and Implications

The acquisition of the CSM Worldwide by IHS creates a formidable force in the provision of automotive industry data, forecasting and consultancy services. The combination of CSM and IHS makes a great deal of sense for both organisations. CSM's strengths in the supplier market, production and powertrain analysis, and North American and Asian customer markets are highly complementary to IHS strengths in OEM, sales analysis and European markets.

The new entity will combine the talents and best practices employed by both organisations to offer an enhanced range of products and services for an improved customer experience. In the meantime the staff of both companies will work to support all existing products and platforms, while looking for enhancements and new opportunities to improve our services. During this process, customers will be kept fully informed about how CSM and IHS Global Insight will be combined to add greater benefit and increase customer satisfaction. One of the goals of the acquisition is to develop a single, better, suite of products that combines the strengths of both existing services. Customers will be very much involved in this integration process and feedback and input is welcome.