Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

IMPAIRMENTS

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IMPAIRMENTS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Asset Impairment Charges [Abstract]  
Asset Impairment Charges
We began development of a new North American light-duty diesel engine (LDD) platform in July of 2006 for use in a variety of on and off-highway applications. At December 31, 2015, we had capitalized investments of approximately $279 million, with a net book value prior to the impairment of $246 million ($235 million of which was in our Engine segment and $11 million of which was in our Components segment). Market uncertainty due to the global recession in 2008/2009 resulted in some customers delaying or canceling their vehicle programs, while others remained active. We announced an agreement with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. in 2013 to supply our light-duty diesel engine and began commercial shipment in 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2015, we learned that we were not successful in our bid to supply this product for an additional customer. In addition, the deterioration in global economic conditions and excess manufacturing capacity in other markets made it unlikely that we would manufacture additional products on the LDD line to utilize its excess capacity during the asset recovery period. As a result, we concluded that the combination of these events presented a triggering event requiring an assessment of the recoverability of these assets in the fourth quarter of 2015. The assessment indicated that the projected undiscounted cash flows related to this asset group were not sufficient to recover its carrying value. Consequently, we were required to write down the LDD asset group to fair value. Our 2015 fourth quarter results included an impairment charge of $211 million ($133 million after-tax), of which $202 million was in the Engine segment and $9 million was in the Components segment, to reflect the assets at fair value. We remain committed to servicing existing contracts and are not exiting this product line.
The fair value of the asset group was estimated to be $35 million ($33 million for the Engine segment and $2 million for the Components segment) at December 31, 2015 and was calculated primarily using a cost approach with consideration of a market approach where secondary market information was available for the type and age of these assets. In the application of the market approach, we determined that the liquidation value in-place reflected the best estimate of fair value. In the application of the cost approach we considered the current cost of replacing the assets with a reduction for physical deterioration given the age of the assets and a reduction for functional and economic obsolescence in the form of a discount reflecting the current and projected under-utilization of the assets. The fair value of these assets are considered Level 3 under the fair value hierarchy as they are either derived from unobservable inputs or have significant adjustments to the observable inputs.