Delphi: the former General Motors parts division, now a PHINIA brand

History

Delphi was created on 1 January 1999, when General Motors spun off its parts division in one of the largest spin-offs in business history, carrying out an IPO that raised about $1.7 billion. As an independent company, Delphi struggled with serious financial difficulties, filing for bankruptcy in October 2005 and not exiting it until four years later, in October 2009.

In 2017, Delphi Automotive (the former GM division) renamed itself Aptiv, refocusing on connected and autonomous-vehicle technology, while spinning off its powertrain and aftermarket-related business into a separate publicly traded company, Delphi Technologies PLC. In October 2020, Delphi Technologies was acquired by the American company BorgWarner, and on 5 July 2023 BorgWarner spun off Delphi Technologies together with the Delco Remy and Hartridge brands into a new, independent public company, PHINIA. PHINIA is the current owner of the Delphi brand in the automotive-parts segment.

What Delphi makes

The Delphi brand is associated primarily with fuel-injection systems (both gasoline and diesel), ignition systems, engine electronics, and sensors. This reflects its heritage as General Motors' former electronics and engine-hardware division, which, after a series of corporate restructurings, remained a specialised powertrain-parts segment.

Buying Delphi parts

Delphi has had a turbulent corporate history — from a GM division, through bankruptcy, to several changes of ownership — but throughout that time the brand has stayed consistently linked to one field: fuel injection and ignition. Its current owner, PHINIA, continues that specialisation, so buying an injection pump, injector, or ignition-system part under the Delphi name means buying from a product line that has supplied the same kind of components to carmakers for decades.