Chongqing – 28th Nov. 2012– On 28th Nov. 2012, Webasto held its new plant foundation laying ceremony in Pingchang Industry Park of Chongqing New Northern Zone. Webasto global Executive Vice President Mr. Mehlfeldt, Webasto China President and CEO Mr. Geeraerds, Party Committee Chairman and Director of Chongqing New Northern Zone Mr. Xiong Xue and other leaders from Chongqing local government have taken part in this ceremony. Meanwhile, Webasto also has its honor to have many guests from Changan Ford, Changan Motor and FAW-VW in this ceremony. All guests and Webasto employees together witnessed this important moment.
As the biggest roof suppliers worldwide with more than 100 years history, Webasto is one of the top 100 automotive suppliers worldwide and within the top 15 of German suppliers. In 2001, Webasto started the OE roof business in China. By more than 10 years sustained efforts, today Webasto has 5 key subsidiaries in China: One operation and a complete R&D center in Shanghai, an operation in Changchun, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Beijing. Webasto Chongqing was founded on Jun. 2006, and is a wholly private owned enterprise by Webasto in Chongqing. Our main products are classic roofs and panorama roofs. This new plant of Webasto Chongqing will take the area of 24,000 square meters. Construction period of the factory is from November 2012 to October 2013. After launch, the new plant will have an annual production capacity of 1,000,000 sets of automobile roofs.
On the ceremony site, both Mr. Mehlfeldt and Mr. Geeraerds said: “China is the most important and most potential market of Webasto. Now, we have more than 2,000 employees in China. We produce more than 3 million roofs per year. In the next 5 years, we expect to double our volume in China.” This year, Webasto Guangzhou just moved to its new plant. Furthermore, we are expanding our footprint with 2 more factories: one in Wuhan and one in ShenYang, to be ready for production in 2014.
Webasto’s key business in China is the development, localization and production of roof systems for all global OEMs producing in China. The main customers of Webasto in China are well-known OEM joint ventures such as FAW-VW, BBAC, BMW Brilliance, SGM, SVW, Changan Ford, DPCA, Volvo China, Beijing Hyundai, KIA and DFM-Nissan. In addition, Webasto also develops and produces roofs for local Chinese manufactures such as FAW Car, SAIC Motor, Changan Motor, BAIC Motor, GAC Motor, Chery and GWM. During past years, Webasto has been awarded many times by most of those OEMs, building up a high quality reputation. Currently the company is the leader in Chinese roof market with 60% market share.
