What KOSTAL of America makes

KOSTAL of America, Inc. is the US arm of the KOSTAL Group, a family-owned German automotive-electronics maker, and it develops the group's automotive electrical systems for North American vehicle programs from Troy, Michigan. The core products are mechatronic control units and switches: door control units, seat control units, tailgate control units, and smart access units, along with the steering column and stalk switches that have been a KOSTAL signature since the 1930s. The company says it produces more than 30 million control units a year and describes itself as the global market leader for door control units.

Two product ideas anchor the automotive line. KOSTAL invented Anti-Pinch Protection, the system that detects when something is about to be trapped in a powered window or door and reverses the drive, and it has more than 30 years of field experience with it. Its Sensorless Motion Control uses motor current, rather than Hall sensors, to track a seat or window actuator's position and speed, which lowers system cost. Newer work on the roadmap includes automatic door opening with surround monitoring, Ethernet audio and video streaming, and NFC, BLE, and UWB access control for zonal vehicle architectures.

The US footprint sits alongside two sister KOSTAL entities in metro Detroit that widen the product story. KOSTAL Electro Mobility America develops power electronics for electric and hybrid vehicles, including onboard chargers, DC/DC converters, and integrated X-in-1 units. KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme runs connector production and sales from Rochester Hills, covering plug-connector systems and high-voltage connectors for electric-vehicle platforms. Together the three entities cover switching, control electronics, power conversion, and interconnect for the same OEM customers, from prototype through production part approval.

Ownership and history

KOSTAL is a fourth-generation family business. Leopold Kostal founded the company in Lüdenscheid, Germany, in 1912, it began making automotive products in 1926, and Andreas Kostal joined as the fourth generation of the family in 2008. The group reports €3.5 billion in turnover for 2025 on a preliminary basis, roughly 19,900 employees worldwide with more than 83 percent working outside Germany, 64 locations across 22 countries on five continents, and more than €200 million in annual research and development spending. KOSTAL of America, Inc. is a wholly owned US subsidiary; its Troy site handles research, development, and sales for the Automobil Elektrik business as a Tier 1 automotive supplier.

The group has kept reshaping around electrification. In 2023 it acquired Compleo Charging Solutions and moved into stationary EV charging infrastructure, in 2024 it launched a manufacturer-independent charging-software brand, and in 2025 it carved the power-electronics business out of Automobil Elektrik to stand up KOSTAL Electro Mobility as an independent company. Those moves show up in the US structure as the separate KOSTAL Electro Mobility America entity that now shares the Troy address.

Certifications and quality

KOSTAL Automobil Elektrik, the division the US entity belongs to, holds a current IATF 16949 certificate dated February 2025 and an ISO 14001:2015 environmental certificate dated July 2025, both posted as documents on the company's own site. IATF 16949 is the automotive quality-management standard and a precondition for the OEM programs KOSTAL names, and its currency in the 2025 cycle is the strongest single quality signal on record here. The company states a zero-error target across products and processes, runs advanced quality planning from development through serial production per APQP, and performs its inspections in its own laboratories against globally uniform internal standards.

Known customers

KOSTAL publishes a customer References list on its Automobil Elektrik site, and the relationships are long and named. The table below shows the documented programs; allocation of specific programs to the US Troy entity is not separately disclosed, so these are group-level relationships.

The full References list also names Honda, Mazda, Maruti Suzuki, Volvo, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Tata (Jaguar Land Rover), and Great Wall.

Sourcing evidence

KOSTAL of America, Inc. in Troy is a research, development, and sales entity, so it carries no meaningful direct US import record of its own. The group's North American physical supply runs through a separate importer entity, Kostal Mexicana, which brings finished and semi-finished goods from KOSTAL's Mexican plants into the United States. That entity shows 6,147 US import shipments on record, with activity as recent as September 21, 2026.

The top counterparties are almost entirely other KOSTAL entities, the signature of a captive group supply chain that manufactures in Mexico and Germany and moves parts between its own plants, rather than third-party trade. For buyers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure, the practical point is that KOSTAL's North American production base is in Mexico, with US engineering and sales in Michigan.

Coverage caveats: these are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements, which carry most US-Mexico automotive flows, do not appear; the shipment counts belong to the Kostal Mexicana import entity, not to KOSTAL of America, Inc.; and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does KOSTAL of America make?

KOSTAL of America, Inc. develops automotive electronics and electro-mechanical products for North American vehicle programs from Troy, Michigan. Its core products are door, seat, tailgate, and smart access control units, along with steering column and stalk switches. The group says it produces more than 30 million control units a year and is the global market leader for door control units.

Who owns KOSTAL of America?

KOSTAL of America, Inc. is a wholly owned US subsidiary of the KOSTAL Group, a private, family-owned German company (Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG) headquartered in Lüdenscheid. The group was founded in 1912 and is now run by the fourth generation of the Kostal family.

Where is KOSTAL of America located?

KOSTAL of America, Inc. is at 350 Stephenson Highway, Troy, Michigan 48083, where it runs research, development, and sales. Two sister KOSTAL entities are nearby: KOSTAL Electro Mobility America at the same Troy address, and KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Who are KOSTAL's customers?

KOSTAL's published customer References list names BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Tesla, Hyundai, Honda, Mazda, Volvo, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Tata (Jaguar Land Rover), and Great Wall. These are group-level relationships; KOSTAL does not separately disclose which programs run through the US entity.

What certifications does KOSTAL hold?

KOSTAL Automobil Elektrik, the division the US entity belongs to, holds a current IATF 16949 quality certificate dated February 2025 and an ISO 14001:2015 environmental certificate dated July 2025, both published on the company's own site. IATF 16949 is the automotive quality-management standard required for the OEM programs KOSTAL supplies.

How big is KOSTAL?

The KOSTAL Group reports €3.5 billion in turnover for 2025 on a preliminary basis and roughly 19,900 employees worldwide across 64 locations in 22 countries. It invests more than €200 million a year in research and development. KOSTAL does not publish standalone financials for its US entity.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.