Severstal out. AK Steel Corp is in. Rouge Steel has a New Parent!

**raptor56** · July-21-14, 04:50 PM

Russian steelmaker Severstal OAO said Monday it is selling its Dearborn unit formerly known as Rouge Steel to an Ohio company for $700 million as it exits North America.

The Russian company said it will sell its Severstal Dearborn LLC subsidiaries and Severstal Columbus LLC, collectively known as Severstal North America, to AK Steel Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc., respectively, for $2.3 billion.

From The Detroit News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz388s28FrE

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · July-21-14, 04:56 PM

Is this considered a positive change? I have no way of knowing.

**Danny** · July-21-14, 05:03 PM

YAY! The Russian owners are out. America owners in. That's what I like to see. American Companies making American Steel.

**Dan Wesson** · July-21-14, 05:21 PM

The Russians are leaving, The Russians are leaving!!

Better get your Kalashnikov's now!!

**Hypestyles** · July-21-14, 05:44 PM

Curious. Will they still be allowed to pollute at the same high levels as before? I'm glad that nobody gets laid off [[I guess?), but smokestacks and smog are not the be-all-end-all of civilization.

**compn** · July-21-14, 11:17 PM

russians are smart. car companies said they are moving to aluminum to get lighter weight cars to be in compliance with better gas mileage.

good time to invest in aluminum... bad time to invest in steel.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-22-14, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by compn

russians are smart. car companies said they are moving to aluminum to get lighter weight cars to be in compliance with better gas mileage.

good time to invest in aluminum... bad time to invest in steel.

The vehicles might be lighter to save on gas consumption, but they won't be safer. They will crumble like a pop can in a accident. Plus, I'm willing to bet it will be very expensive to repair that aluminum as opposed to steel. I read somewhere that it takes different kinds of tools and special training that are very costly to repair aluminum as it's harder to work with than steel. I get why they're going to it, just not sure it's a good idea.

**mikeg19** · July-22-14, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

The vehicles might be lighter to save on gas consumption, but they won't be safer. They will crumble like a pop can in a accident.

You do realize that cars are now designed to crumple in areas to deflect energy away from and around the victims in a crash right?

I'm fairly certain that no matter what material you are using, it still needs to pass crash testing. Besides, it all depends on what applications on the vehicle are being made out of steel and which are aluminum. It's a mixture. My company designs tooling for both steel and aluminum on vehicles, and with the varying grades of strength for both materials, aluminum can be just as durable as steel.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-23-14, 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

You do realize that cars are now designed to crumple in areas to deflect energy away from and around the victims in a crash right?

I'm fairly certain that no matter what material you are using, it still needs to pass crash testing. Besides, it all depends on what applications on the vehicle are being made out of steel and which are aluminum. It's a mixture. My company designs tooling for both steel and aluminum on vehicles, and with the varying grades of strength for both materials, aluminum can be just as durable as steel.

Not debating it can't be more durable, I'm sure it can be. I'm debating the cost of repair or replacement. Just like when the auto industry went with plastic bumpers, that cost as much or more to repair or replace than steel. I get the reason for it, but will it be cost effective? I doubt it.