Laurent Favre, Managing Director of Plastic Omnium, was the guest this Tuesday morning of Good Morning Business on BFM Business.
An additional factory in China for Plastic Omnium. It will be the 33rd factory in the country for the French automotive supplier specializing in bodywork and tanks. The site, located in the Shanghai region, will be operational from next year: the objective is to achieve an annual production capacity of one million bumpers. This new plant will meet the demand of one of its major customers, an American manufacturer specializing in electric vehicles who wants to speed up production in China.
“The Chinese market, for a very long time, was a market of volumes. Everyone went to China because it was a market in strong growth (…). Now it is a market of growth but also of innovation. China is the automotive innovation laboratory. We see a lot of connected vehicles in China, a lot of vehicles that integrate the lighting in a slightly different way in the image of the car (…). promising for us in terms of growth “, underlined Laurent Favre, Managing Director of Plastic Omnium, on BFM Business.
Two other factories on the program
The company is benefiting from the move upmarket of Chinese manufacturers, increasingly fond of the technologies of French equipment manufacturers. Especially since the Chinese market is “also very dynamic in new energies”, added the leader of the company. Not just on the electric car: according to industry experts, China will quickly become the first market for hydrogen vehicles, especially for trucks and buses. However, Plastic Omnium aims to become one of the world leaders in this technology, thanks to the production of tanks.
With its 32 production sites, and soon 33, Plastic Omnium is today the leader in China for body parts – the country represents 11% of its turnover. It still intends to ramp up: two other additional factories are already under construction in the country.
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