Sep 27 2004
GKN Sinter Metals and Shanghai Automotive Company, Ltd. (SAC) announced today that they have signed a Letter of Intent to form a joint venture in China. The JV will produce complex powder metal components to support the growing Chinese automotive and industrial markets. The partnership will include a modern powder metal production plant in Shanghai.
Richard Clowes, Managing Director - Powder Metallurgy for GKN plc, says, “We are delighted to have this opportunity to establish a joint venture with SAC, China’s leading producer of automobiles for the local transportation industry. Through our partnership, we will be able to capitalize on the expansive technical resources of GKN Sinter Metals’ global P/M operations to provide the Chinese automotive market place with unprecedented quality and highly complex P/M components.” Clowes notes that the Chinese market is widely regarded as the largest opportunity for growth in automotive components in the coming decades, and the P/M industry at present does not serve the automotive segment of the Chinese market as comprehensively as it does other markets.
SAC’s President, Mr. Zhao, says they’ve teamed up with the ideal partner for expansion into the Chinese automotive component industry. “We found in our partner a global technology leader that will bring technological innovations to the P/M industry in China during its most intense period of growth,” he adds.
Zhao says GKN Sinter Metals’ agreement with SAC builds on the successful joint venture established in 1988 between GKN Driveline and SAIC – parent company to SAC - that provides automotive driveline components for Chinese OEMs.
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