Germany’s Mahle Group is expanding its presence in China, its fastest growing market. Last week, the company officially opened a new plant for automotive compressors in Changshu, China, aiming to strengthen its positioning in the climate compressor business — a fast-growing market segment.
“With our new compressor plant in Changshu, we are further expanding our Mahle’s presence in China, the market with the strongest growth opportunities,” said Wolf-Henning Scheider, chairman of the Mahle Management Board and CEO. “The new investment is evidence of our confidence in the future growth of the Changshu plant and the automotive compressor business as a whole,” added Dr. Jörg Stratmann, responsible for Thermal Management in the Mahle Management Board.
The new plant for automotive compressors in Changshu originates from an existing site in Suzhou. With the move to Changshu, Mahle’s production capacity has doubled. Construction of the new plant started in August 2015.
Thus far, Mahle has invested around 24 million euros in production facilities at the location in the Changshu industrial park. It plans further investments for this site in the years to come. Currently, around 330 employees work at the plant. The number of employees is also expected to increase within the next years.
The Mahle Group’s growth in China in the past six years has been quite impressive with a compounded annual growth rate of 21 percent, making China the fastest growing market for the company. Since 2011, the number of people employed by Mahle in China has also doubled. In 2016, there were over 7,800 employees in China.