Like its peers, Magna has been hit hard by the return of inflation after a blessed decade of wage stagnation. This, coupled with accelerated investment to develop a product portfolio suited to electric vehicles, has weighed on margins.

The upside of the OEMs' business lies in the solid industrial relationships they have forged with the major automakers over the decades. The downside is that the balance of power is now clearly in favor of the latter.

It's clear when we compare the evolution of margins: those of equipment manufacturers - which have never been juicy. They've been in structural decline for years, while those of automakers, on the contrary, are sailing on historically high levels.

Adding to these headwinds is the increasingly fierce competition from Chinese equipment manufacturers, who ten years ago were still perceived as unable to compete in terms of innovation or quality.

Times have changed, and nothing now seems able to stand up to the Chinese automotive sector as a whole: innovative, vertically integrated, unbeatable in terms of competitiveness, and able to serve customers on every continent.

These factors explain why Magna's business has been slowing down for years. Growth is struggling and profits are plummeting, resulting in reduced returns to shareholders - in the form of dividends and share buy-backs - and, on top of this, a plummeting market capitalization.