Wuhan, Hubei -- Automotive components maker Faurecia opened a 60,000m2Automotive Seating Industrial Park in central China’s Wuhan city in November.
The group’s two existing seating plants in the city - Faurecia GSK (Wuhan) Automotive Seating, a 51%-owned joint venture with Taiwan’s largest automotive parts manufacturer GSK, and Faurecia (Wuhan) Automotive Components Systems - a wholly-owned affiliate company, have been moved into the park and will supply seat frames and complete seats to Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile and Nissan. Both plants have a capacity close to 500,000 set/year.
The company predicts that 12% of its sales will be to Chinese brands in 2016. Faurecia China reported sales of €1.5bn (US$2bn) in 2012 and said it plans to double that figure by 2016 or make 15% of the group’s total sales within the country.
Production processes and technologies including cutting, foaming and covering will be introduced to the park and an automotive seating design and development centre is also planned. Faurecia expects to shape the new park into a benchmark site for its seating business in China.
In a statement, executive vice president of Faurecia Automotive Seating Patrick Koller said: “Faurecia Wuhan Automotive Seating Industrial Park allows us to further integrate local competitiveness in technology and better serve local clients.”
Faurecia currently has 39 plants, four research centres and employs 10,000 people in China.
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