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| July 15, 2003 No.0951 | ||
| MHI will enter Automotive Air-conditioner market
in China setting up joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. aiming for orders for 500,000 units annually |
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Tokyo, July 15, 2003 --- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Mitsui &
Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) are forming an automotive air-conditioner joint venture to
enter the fast growing automobile parts industry in China.
The joint venture is named MHI Automotive Climate Control (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (MACC)(*1). 3 companies, MHI, Mitsui and Mitsui China (*2) will invest jointly to establish an automotive air-conditioner manufacturing and sales base in Shanghai in August this year. The factory will have initial annual capacity of 200,000 units, and the company aims to produce 500,000 units. MACC will be located in a preferential-tax economic zone in Jinqiao, Shanghai. There will be approximately 60 employees at the start. MHI will invest 70%, Mitsui 20% and Mitsui China 10%. Yoji Hiramitsu of MHI will be appointed as a General Manager. Automotive manufacturers from Japan, America and Europe are all entering into China at once, and car production reached 3 million units in 2002, and the prospects are for continuing fast growth. Demand for automotive air-conditioners is growing quickly along with this circumstance. In order to win in the stiff competition for orders of automotive air-conditioners in China, the company determined it is necessary to establish a manufacturing base there to increase cost competitiveness and to be able to supply customers quickly. MHI and Mitsui have looked at entering into the Chinese market, with MHI's automotive air-conditioner development and production technology and Mitsui's experience doing business in China and SCM expertise complementing each other, and decided to go forward when they had secured enough orders to justify establishing a base there. Production will be on a knockdown basis using parts supplied from Japan for a while. Mitsui has invested in as many as 120 companies in China, in many areas including energy and metals, and has been supplying steel plate and plastic materials to numerous automotive manufacturers in China including FAW, Shanghai GM and Guangzhou Honda. The company will use its achievements in China to support management, operations and sales for the joint venture.
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About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan is one of the world's leading global heavy machinery manufacturers, with fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) consolidated sales of 2,593 billion yen. MHI's diverse line-up of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, steel structures, power plants, chemical plants, steel plants, environmental equipment, and machinery for industrial and general use, aircraft, and space rocketry and air-conditioning systems. For more information, please visit the web site of MHI. (http://www.mhi.co.jp) Press Contact: Chris Grams:cgrams@golinharris.com, or Goro Nagaoka: gnagaoka@golinharris.com Tel: +81-3-5721-2521, Fax: +81-3-5721-2591 Golin/Harris International (PR for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) |
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