Responding to Western China’s boom

Freudenberg and its joint-venture partner Japan Vilene are opening a new CNY 36 million production site in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, in response to the growing demand for automotive filters in the region

“Together we will deliver state-of-the-art filtration technology to the growing automotive industry in Chengdu with companies like Volkswagen and Geely Volvo,” says Dr. Jörg Sievert, member of the management board of Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, which already has plants in Changchun and Suzhou and first started production in China in 1998.

Sixty employees will work at the new site – which will produce both engine air intake filters and micronAir cabin air filters – by the end of 2013.

By establishing the new production site in Xindu, Freudenberg is scaling up domestic production capacity substantially.

Major car manufacturers including First Automotive Works Volkswagen and Geely Volvo have sited their manufacturing plants in the Chengdu area and vehicle production in the region is expected to increase substantially, from 1.8 million units in 2011 to 3 million units in 2015.

Freudenberg has held business ties with customers and partners in China for over a century and in the past seven years, the group has invested more than CNY 1.8 billion in production plants and distribution in the country.