Aluminum sheet producer gets boost from new energy vehicles
August 16, 2017 Category Automotive, Weekly
As China clamps down on pollution, companies such as aluminum producer Novelis see a business opportunity. “The driving force behind our strategy in China is the nation’s increasingly strict policy against pollution,” said Pierre Labat, Vice President of global automotive at the Atlanta, Georgia-based company in the United States. Novelis is expanding its investment in China, particularly in the electric vehicle sector. The group, which has USD10 billion in annual revenue and 24 operating facilities in 10 countries, chose Changzhou, Jiangsu province, in 2012 to open its first manufacturing facility in China, because of logistics convenience and government incentives. With an initial USD100 million investment, the plant now boasts an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of heat-treated aluminum sheet. The factory serves a rapidly growing demand for rolled aluminum used in lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. China’s sales targets for plug-in and hybrid vehicles are 7% of all sales in 2020 and 19% by 2025. “If we look at our total automotive sales in the world, China is about 10%, fairly small,” said Labat. “But it’s our fastest-growing market that yields the highest percentage of growth – six-fold explosive growth since we went there five years ago,” the China Daily reports.
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