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Agreement on the production of automotive lighting between Magneti Marelli and China South Industries Group (CSI), 14th October 2013.
- 14.10.2013
Magneti Marelli, through its subsidiary Automotive Lighting, and China South Industries Group Corporation (CSI), through its subsidiary Hubei Huazhong Photoelectric Science and Technology Co Ltd., signed a joint venture agreement, whose aim is production of headlights and car lamps in China.
The company, called Hubei Huazhong Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting Co. Ltd., will be located in Xiaogan (Hubei Province), about 60 km from Wuhan. It is expected that the plant will start its production in the first quarter of 2015. Ultimately, the production capacity will reach around 5 million units per year with employment of over 800 people. The expected investment is approximately EUR 40 million in total.
CSI is one of the largest Chinese companies (with annual turnover at 360 billion Euros) with a broad range of operations - from cars to motorcycles, from defense to energy. China Changan Automotive Group (CCAG), a strategic partner of the largest producers in the Chinese car market, such as Ford, Mazda, Suzuki, PSA, Mitsubishi, is also in its structure. Huazhong Photoelectric, a subsidiary of CSI, which has concluded an agreement with Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting, already supplies customers in the Chinese automobile market with components and elements for lighting systems.
The new company will offer a full range of car lighting, such as: halogen, xenon, LED and other headlights. The production will be aimed mainly at the vehicles produced by China Changan Automotive Group, but also at other producers operating in China.
The agreement with CSI will additionally enhance Magneti Marelli’s market position in China where in the lighting branch, in addition to the headquarters in Shanghai, two other major factories have worked: one in Wuhu (since 2005) and the other in Guangzhou (since May this year).
"Magneti Marelli has worked in China since 1996 and has invested significant resources to provide Chinese customers with its core technologies," - said Eugenio Razelli CEO of Magneti Marelli. „We come with full enthusiasm to work with such an important partner like CSI in the area of lighting. Its strategic position on the market, allows us to get in touch with the most valuable Chinese business players, with whom we could cooperate and implement new technological solutions for automotive lighting systems. "
Magneti Marelli has been present in China since 1996. The headquarters is situated in Shanghai where companies such as Powertrain Illuminazione, Jiading JV with SAGW that work in the production of hydraulic components for automated gearbox Freechoice ™, are also located. Chinese factories are seated in Wuhu (Illuminazione and Powertrain), Guangzhou (Sistemi ELETTRONICI), Hangzhou (JV with Wanxiang Qianchao Company), Changchun (JV with Fudi), Changsha (Sistemi di scarico) and Hefei (exhaust systems from JAC and Lingdatang).
Automotive Lighting is one of the main Magneti Marelli areas of operation, producing annually nearly 22 million headlights and 22 million back lamps, as well as one of the world leaders in automotive lighting production.
Automotive Lighting consists of nineteen centers located around the world, research and development centers, working on innovative solutions (Germany and Italy) and fifteen centers running in Brazil, the Czech Republic, China, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States of America.
The main innovations introduced to the automobile market by Automotive Lighting were the first of Xenon headlights created in 1991, dynamically adjusted Xenon lights in 2003 and the first headlight with an active infra-red module launched in 2005.The true revolution in the lighting technology was brought by the first full-LED lamp, whose series production started in 2008 (for the Audi R8). It was the first car lamp with all lighting functions in LED technology. Then, the company introduced the world's first headlights with an active infra-red night vision system, and since 2010, the first full-LED headlight with an adaptive lighting feature (for the Mercedes Benz CLS).
The technological evolution resulting from the LED and Xenon solution- with 35 watt configuration and a new, far competitive solution, with a power of 25 watt – opened new horizons in the subject of safety, decreasing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and at the same time offering new aesthetic and stylistic solutions. These are the fundamental aspects of the competitiveness of the offer, also on the Chinese market.
Research conducted by Automotive Lighting led to the conclusion that a car employing Xenon technology for passing beams and LED technology for the remaining front and back lighting, might save up to 80 watt and 2 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer in relation to vehicle equipped with traditional halogen lamps.
Milan-Shanghai- 14th October 2013
