German supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. opened a lighting factory in Changzhou last week to supply automakers in eastern China.
The $10.2 million plant is run by Hella’s automotive lighting joint venture with Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts Co., a subsidiary of BAIC Motor Group Co.
The factory, with a production area of some 12,000 square meters, will mainly make lighting products featuring advanced technologies used in the front of vehicles.
For example, Hella said it has started producing a continuous light band for a domestic Chinese electric-vehicle maker, without identifying the customer.
The light band, consisting of a single module, is more than two meters long and extends across the entire face of the vehicle.
The Changzhou factory employs nearly 150 people and the workforce will double in the medium term, according to the German supplier.
The new plant is the third factory Hella has established in China with Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts Co., following existing ones in two north China cities – Sanhe and Tianjin.
It is also Hella’s eighth lighting factory in China.
The German supplier has three wholly-owned lighting plants – one in the east China city of Jiaxing and two in the northeast China city of Changchun.
Its joint venture with Faway Automobile Components, a subsidiary of China FAW Group Corp., operates lighting factories in Changchun and the southwest China city of Chengdu.