thyssenkrupp increases investment to further expand automotive body business in China
New site in Kunshan in Jiangsu province
Growth with Chinese OEMs and model platforms for electric vehicles
Service and product range for electric vehicles expanded
thyssenkrupp is expanding its auto body business in China to establish a new site in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. The company, thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions (Suzhou)Co., Ltd, belongs to thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions. It will in future develop and produce tools, prototypes and assembly lines for body-in-white construction for vehicle manufacturers in China. The total investment amounts to eight million euros and the new site will start operation in December 2022. This is a further expansion of thyssenkrupp automotive business after the investment to damper in Changzhou in 2021.
Falk Nüßle, CEO of thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions: "Through the expansion and further development of our international sites we aim to grow significantly in the coming years. The Chinese market plays the most important role in this. In China in particular we can benefit as an automotive plant engineering company from the market entry of new OEMs and a growing number of new, mainly electrified model platforms."
Dr. Gao Yan, CEO of thyssenkrupp Greater China: “Today, China is already the world's largest auto market, and the popularity of new energy vehicles and the rise of local auto OEMs are injecting new vitality into this market. As the world's leading provider of auto parts and body manufacturing technology, we hope that by further strengthening local capabilities and resources, we can not only better serve the local needs of our global customers, but also better meet the domestic market and emerging customers’ needs and expectations. We are willing to develop and grow together with China's auto market and local OEMs”.
thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions Business is a partner of many of the world's leading automobile manufacturers, with the advantages of the entire industry chain of the body business, the synergistic advantages from body production lines to body manufacturing, as well as brand and customer advantages in core equipment. thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions (Suzhou) Co.,Ltd. not only inherits the professional technology from its headquarters originated in Germany, but also inherits the rich experience and domestic customer resources accumulated by thyssenkrupp System Engineering (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. in the past decades. With enhanced localization, the delivery time will be significantly shortened, and the automotive body business will be more competitive in the China market.
Globally, the company is targeting tremendous sales growth in the coming years. The growth plans are being supported by the incipient market recovery after the Corona crisis, especially among premium manufacturers. The company's current customer portfolio includes automakers such as Mercedes-AMG, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, Aston Martin and Tesla, as well as Chinese manufacturers such as FAW, SAIC, Li-Auto and Enovate.
In addition to classic body-in-white construction, the company can score particularly well in the field of electro mobility with special automation solutions for folding, laser and gluing systems. The company also develops and manufactures special lightweight components for electric vehicles, such as battery modules. "Our order books are well filled. We are also increasingly benefiting from the trend towards electric mobility and have been able to win a large number of projects for e-vehicles in recent months," Nüßle continues.
The Automotive Body Solutions business unit, part of the automotive supply and service segment (Automotive Technology) of the thyssenkrupp group, was created last fiscal year from the division of the former thyssenkrupp System Engineering, under whose umbrella various automotive plant engineering businesses were combined. In total thyssenkrupp Automotive Body Solutions currently employs around 2,300 people worldwide. The company currently operates a total of eleven development and production sites in Europe, the USA, China and India.