Garrett Motion (GTX) Risk Analysis

Our profitability and margin growth are dependent upon, among other things, our ability to drive efficiency improvements throughout our organization. In addition, we seek productivity and cost savings benefits through repositioning actions and projects, such as consolidation of manufacturing facilities, transitions to cost-competitive regions, workforce reductions, asset impairments, product line rationalizations and other cost-saving initiatives. Risks associated with these actions include potential delays in execution of planned initiatives, additional unexpected costs, failure to fully realize expected productivity improvements and adverse effects on employee morale. We may not realize the full operational or financial benefits we expect, the recognition of these benefits may be delayed and these actions may potentially disrupt our operations. In addition, organizational changes, attrition, labor relations difficulties, or workforce stoppages could impact our efforts to improve operational efficiencies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial position and results of operations.

Our geographic footprint emphasizes locating engineering and manufacturing capabilities in close physical proximity to our customers and in regions with relatively lower costs than more developed markets, thereby enabling us to adopt technologies and products for the specific vehicle types sold in each geographic market and to manage costs. We are therefore subject to risks inherent in operating in various jurisdictions at a local level. In particular, a work stoppage or other disruption at any of our facilities in a given region could have a material adverse effect on our business, especially insofar as it impacts our ability to serve our customers. Our production in each of our markets is heavily dependent upon our local manufacturing capabilities, and so if we are forced to relocate our operations from our existing facilities to new facilities due to unforeseen circumstances or factors beyond our control, we will incur substantial costs, experience program delays and sacrifice proximity to customers and geographic markets as a result, potentially for an extended period of time, each of which could cause a material adverse effect on our business. The automotive industry relies heavily on "just-in-time" delivery of components during the assembly and manufacture of vehicles, and when we fail to make timely deliveries to our customers in accordance with our contractual obligations, we generally have to absorb our own costs for identifying and solving the "root cause" of the problem as well as expeditiously producing replacement components or products. We typically must also carry the costs associated with "catching up," such as overtime and premium freight. Additionally, if we are the cause for a customer being forced to halt production, the customer may seek to recoup its losses and expenses from us. These losses and expenses could be significant and may include consequential losses, such as lost profits. In addition, a significant disruption in the supply of a key component due to a work stoppage or other disruption at one of our suppliers could impact our ability to make timely deliveries to our customers and, accordingly, have a material adverse effect on our financial results. Further, if a customer halts production because of one of its other suppliers failing to deliver on time, it is unlikely we will be fully compensated, if at all. In addition, many of our major customers have union contracts throughout their operations, and any extended work stoppage or other disruption at one or more of our customers could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our continued success depends on our ability to innovate to meet or exceed the needs of our customers. The automotive industry is increasingly focused on improved vehicle efficiency and reduced emissions, including through the development of hybrid and full-battery electric vehicles, largely driven by increasingly stringent government regulations related to emissions and changing consumer preferences, and we expect this trend to continue. Increased public awareness and concern regarding global climate change may result in even more local, regional and/or federal requirements to reduce or mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions further, and several markets in which we operate are already undertaking efforts to ban internal combustion vehicles altogether. While this trend presents an opportunity for increased incorporation of turbochargers into internal combustion engine ("ICE"), hybrid and fuel-cell based vehicles in the medium-term as original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") seek to reduce emissions from their existing product portfolios, demand may shift away from the types of vehicles where our turbochargers generate higher profit margins and towards the types of vehicles where our turbochargers generate smaller profit margins, and in the longer-term may shift toward vehicles where no turbocharger is needed, such as with battery electric vehicles. Conversely, if emissions regulations are weakened, postponed or repealed, demand for emissions-reducing technologies, such as turbochargers, may be negatively impacted. If we are unable to respond to changes in the technological needs of our customers, if a transition to battery electric vehicles is pursued more broadly or is implemented more rapidly than we have anticipated, or if we overestimate the turbocharger penetration rate in ICE, hybrid, or fuel-cell-based vehicles in the medium-term, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In addition, in response to the ongoing evolution in the automotive industry and the anticipated shift toward zero-emission vehicles, we have made, and we expect to continue to make, significant investments in technologies supporting zero-emission vehicles, including fuel cell compressors and high value electric vehicle components, including E-Powertrain and E-Cooling Compressor technologies. Many of these new technologies are in the pre-development stage and there is no guarantee that they will be successful. Further, investment in these new technologies is dependent on the profits generated from our turbocharger business; reduced demand for our turbochargers could impact our ability to invest in these new technologies. If we are required to make more significant investments than expected, if consumer demand for zero-emission vehicles fails to develop or develops more slowly than expected or if competition for electrification technologies is more intense than we expect, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

While the majority of our current product offerings are not covered by third-party licenses, many of our emerging technology offerings use software components or other intellectual property licensed from third parties, including through proprietary and open-source licenses. Should such emerging products become a significant part of our product offerings, our reliance on third-party licenses may present various risks to our business, including the risk that our ability to access these third-party technologies could be interrupted, or the technologies could become obsolete, defective or incompatible with future versions of our emerging technology offerings. We may be unable to reach or renew agreements with respect to our permitted use of these technologies, on terms acceptable to us or at all, our relationships with these third parties may deteriorate, or our agreements with these third parties may expire or be terminated. We may also face legal or business disputes with licensors that may threaten or lead to the disruption of inbound licensing relationships. Additionally, third parties who license to our competitors could refuse to license to us on equally favorable terms or at all. Our inability to obtain licenses or rights on favorable terms could have a material effect on our emerging technology offerings and our competitiveness, which would adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, we may incur significant costs in order to remain in compliance with the terms of our licenses, including the need to carefully monitor and manage our use of third-party components. The license terms may also require us to license or publicly disclose our intellectual property without compensation or on undesirable terms. These risks could be heightened in the case of future mergers or acquisitions. Additionally, as a result of any such transaction, third parties may obtain licenses to some of our intellectual property, or our business may be subject to certain restrictions that were not in place prior to such transaction.

We are subject to extensive environmental regulations and our operations may expose us to risks of environmental liabilities. There can be no assurance that we will not incur additional liabilities related to the investigation and cleanup of environmental hazards and to claims of personal injuries or property damage that may arise from hazardous substance releases and exposures, including those relating to activities of our predecessor company or companies that we have acquired or may acquire from time to time. We are also subject to potential liabilities related to the compliance of our operations with the requirements of various federal, state, local and foreign governments that regulate the discharge of materials into the environment and the generation, handling, storage, treatment and disposal of, and exposure to, hazardous substances. If we are found to be in violation of these laws and regulations, we may be subject to substantial fines and criminal sanctions and be required to install costly equipment or make operational changes to achieve compliance with such laws and regulations. In addition, changes in laws, regulations or government enforcement of policies concerning the environment, the discovery of previously unknown contamination or new information related to individual contaminated sites, the establishment of stricter state or federal toxicity standards with respect to certain contaminants, or the imposition of new clean-up requirements or remedial techniques, could require us to incur additional currently unanticipated costs in the future that would have a negative effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Sales in our aftermarket operations are directly related to consumer demand and spending for automotive aftermarket products, which may be affected by factors outside of our control, such as the average useful life of OEM parts and components, severity of regional weather conditions, highway and roadway infrastructure deterioration and the average number of miles vehicles are driven by owners. Given the relative importance of our off-highway after market business,trends in agriculture, mining, oil and gas and construction can influence our aftermarket demand as well. Improvements in technology and product quality are extending the longevity of vehicle component parts, which may result in delayed or reduced aftermarket sales. Our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by these trends, including if we fail to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to changes in the demand for our aftermarket products. Additionally, we rely upon a network of independent dealers to manage the distribution of our aftermarket products. We rely on the capability of our independent dealers to develop and implement effective sales plans to create demand among purchasers for the equipment and related products and services that the dealers purchase from us. In addition, the dealer channel's ability to support and service precision technology solutions and emerging power solutions may affect customers' acceptance and adoption rates of these products. If our dealers are not successful in these endeavors, then we will be unable to grow our sales and revenue, which would have an adverse effect on our financial condition. Furthermore, these dealers may have trouble funding their day-to-day operations, and we or they may seek to terminate our existing relationships. The unplanned loss of any of our dealers could lead to inadequate market coverage or negative customer impressions of us and may adversely impact our ability to collect receivables that are associated with that dealer.

We operate within a geographic footprint that emphasizes locating R&D, engineering and manufacturing capabilities in close physical proximity to our customers and in regions with relatively lower costs than more developed markets. This international geographic footprint subjects us to many risks, including those related to: exchange control regulations; wage and price controls; intellectual property protections; antitrust and environmental regulations; employment regulations; data privacy and data protection regulations; foreign investment laws; monetary and fiscal policies and protectionist measures that may prohibit acquisitions or joint ventures, establish local content requirements, or impact trade volumes; import, export and other trade restrictions (such as embargoes) and tariffs; anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws; transactions with state-owned enterprises; nationalization of private enterprises; natural and man-made disasters, hazards and losses; global health risks and pandemics; backlash from foreign labor organizations related to our repositioning actions; violence, civil and labor unrest; acts of terrorism; and our ability to hire and maintain qualified staff and maintain the safety of our employees throughout our operations. For example, certain of the markets in which we operate have adopted increasingly strict data privacy and data protection requirements or may require local storage and processing of data or similar requirements, such as the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") in the European Union. The GDPR and similar data protection measures may increase the cost and complexity of our ability to deliver our services to ensure compliance. In addition, due to our position as a market leader in the turbocharger industry in many of the markets in which we operate, we could face allegations of abuse of our market position or of collusion with other market participants, which could result in negative publicity and adverse regulatory action by the relevant authorities, including the imposition of monetary fines, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Trade tensions have in the past, and may in the future, negatively impact our business. We may not be able to mitigate the impacts of any new or higher tariffs, and our business, results of operations and financial position would be materially adversely affected by such tariffs. Further changes in U.S. trade policies, tariffs, taxes, export restrictions or other trade barriers, and any related responses from affected countries to any new or expanded U.S. trade barriers, or restrictions on raw materials or components may limit our ability to produce products, increase our manufacturing costs, decrease our profit margins, reduce the competitiveness of our products, or inhibit our ability to sell products or purchase raw materials or components, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, the U.S. government has recently threatened to impose new tariffs on imported products from Mexico, Canada and China. Although the impact of these tariffs on our business is subject to a number of unknown factors, including the size, effective date and duration of such tariffs, future changes in the scope and nature of the tariffs, any retaliatory responses to such tariffs taken by the target countries, and the effectiveness of any mitigating actions that may be available to us, due to our meaningful operations in China and Mexico, the impact may be significant. These and other instabilities and uncertainties arising from the global geopolitical environment and the recent U.S. elections, along with the cost of compliance with increasingly complex and often conflicting regulations worldwide, can impair our flexibility in modifying product, marketing, pricing or other strategies for growing our businesses, as well as our ability to improve productivity and maintain acceptable operating margins. Additionally, a significant portion of our revenues and expenses are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. As a result, we are subject to foreign currency risks and foreign exchange exposure arising from our business operations including, but not limited to, international financing activities between subsidiaries, foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities and transactions arising from international trade. Our results of operations and financial condition have in the past been negatively impacted, and may in the future be negatively impacted, by rapidly fluctuating foreign exchange rates. While we have historically hedged foreign currency exposures and utilized foreign currency exchange forward contracts, we cannot guarantee the future success of such programs. Furthermore, a significant source of the funds attributable to Garrett Motion Inc. are derived from distributions from our non-U.S. subsidiaries. Certain countries in which we operate have adopted or could institute currency exchange controls that limit or prohibit the Company's local subsidiaries' ability to convert local currency into U.S. Dollars or to make payments outside the country. This could subject the Company to the risks of local currency devaluation and business disruption. We regularly monitor our foreign currency exchange exposure and often seek to reduce such foreign currency risk through hedging activities; however, foreign exchange hedging activities bear a financial cost and may not always be available to us or be successful in eliminating such volatility.