On October 23, Dongfeng Getrag Transmission lays the foundation stone for its new plant in Wuhan, the annual production of which will reach one million transmissions. Hence, among world top 20 auto spare parts enterprises, 10 have investment in Wuhan. An official from Wuhan economic technology development zone reveals that more and more global leading spare parts suppliers speed up the investment in Wuhan as the local annual production of vehicles reaches three million units. The establishment of Dongfeng Getrag Transmission indicates the auto product chain is improving.
The 10 spare parts companies include security system producer TRW, world-leading light designer and manufacturer Valeo, engine producer Cummins, electric spare parts and system supplier Delphi, and so on, covering various categories of auto industry such as electronic, security system, engines, automatic control equipment etc., and the technical contents and product added value are all improved. Till September, over 200 spare parts enterprises in Wuhan development zone have yielded around 31.2 billion yuan.
According to the official, "it saves a lot of costs to establish a factory near complete vehicle plants". Over the years, as Wuhan accelerates investment in complete vehicles, the spare parts manufacturers start to set up plants in Wuhan as well, and the categories of spare parts in Wuhan are more and more rich.
Valeo is regarded as the earliest spare part supplier entering in Wuhan. It was almost set up together with its supplier Shenlong. As Shenlong invested three plants in Wuhan, Valeo also expand production for three times. The latest workshop is China's largest single auto light production base. As early as the first expansion in 2003, Valeo set up an Asia technical center of lighting system, the R&D results of which are share globally.
Similar with Valeo, world famous engine supplier Cummins settled in Wuhan in 2005, has started to expand its R&D center in less than 6 years. The center supporting development of engines ranging from 2.8L to 9L will be Cummins' second largest R&D center among its all 17 R&D centers.
