Delphi Automotive held a groundbreaking ceremony in Yantai, Shandong Province on 11 October for a new diesel manufacturing facility. Delphi is investing approximately US$100m in building and equipping the facility.
The Yantai operation will produce high-precision diesel fuel injection systems components and is expected to start production in late 2013. It will be supported by an existing Delphi operation in Suzhou that will supply engine control modules. The initial phase of production will serve Great Wall Motors, Shandong Laidong Engine Co, and the Yuchai Group.
Delphi already employs 2,800 people in the Yantai municipality and Fushan district and expects to hire an additional 500 employees at the new facility.
John Fuerst, general manager of Delphi Diesel Systems, told the China Daily at the event, “Our diesel system business in China now accounts for about 5% of total revenue of Delphi’s global diesel business. We hope this operation will boost our China market’s contribution to one-third by the end of this decade.”
Delphi’s Chinese revenue last year rose 21% year-on-year, far higher than the Chinese automotive industry’s average of 2.45%, its lowest in 13 years.
