Faurecia signs 3-year pact with China-based FAW Foundry for lightweight seat frames

July 17, 2013: Faurecia, the world’s sixth largest automotive equipment supplier, has signed a three-year cooperation agreement with China-based FAW Foundry to develop lightweight magnesium alloy seat frames. The agreement was signed in the presence of Yann Delabrière, chairman and CEO, Faurecia, Jean-Michel Vallin, president, Faurecia China, and Sun Feng, general manager, FAW Foundry. The focus of the project is to further cut down the weight of automotive seats.

“The challenge of reducing emissions calls for new breakthrough innovations in the automotive industry, particularly in the field of weight reduction. Magnesium alloy seat frames potentially offer a 25 percent weight reduction compared with state of the art steel frames. This breakthrough development will also allow both Faurecia and FAW Foundry to be in a leading position worldwide for this promising material and the production process as it opens a potentially important market,” said Vallin.'

“We are eager to start cooperating with Faurecia, the world’s number one in automotive seat frames and mechanisms and also a long-term partner of FAW Group Corporation. We believe that this will be a win-win partnership and enable us to contribute to a greener automotive industry,” said Feng.

While Faurecia is a global leader in automotive seating (with number one worldwide for making seat frames and mechanisms and number three for complete seating assemblies), FAW Foundry is a wholly-owned by FAW Group Corporation which is the largest auto casting manufacturer in China. Faurecia is prominent for lightweighting and innovative technologies in the areas such as automotive seating (through the use of high strength steel, laser welding and composite materials, downsizing of mechanisms and components), interior systems (use of renewable and natural materials), emissions control technologies (thinner steel, laser welding and induction brazing) and automotive exteriors (use of composite materials, semi-structural and structural parts).

With a presence of nearly 20 years in China, Faurecia has grown fast along with the booming automotive market in China. The company currently employs 8,500 people, including 700 engineers across 39 industrial sites and four R&D centres in China. During calendar year 2012, Faurecia China’s sales were recorded at €1.5 billion.

Photograph: Faurecia’s front seat frame platforms developed and produced for Nissan, General Motors, Volkswagen and PSA are being deployed worldwide. This new generation of generic seat frames can now be found in more than 50 different vehicle models.