The Materials and Trade division of the technology group Rheinmetall has booked two new orders with its Castings business unit. The first order is from one of the top 10 car manufacturers, based in Shanghai, which covers the entire drive spectrum – from vehicles with combustion engines to hybrid models to purely electrically powered vehicles. Another order goes back to a battery joint venture of this car manufacturer. Cylinder heads and battery carriers were nominated. In the first case, the scope of delivery amounts to several million pieces, while almost a million pieces of the battery carrier are manufactured. The order value for the cylinder heads is in the low three-digit million euro range, while the battery carriers are worth a low double-digit amount.
Both components are manufactured in China. The battery carriers are used in the manufacturer’s new battery box. Production will start in 2025 and will run for a total of seven years. The Castings business unit has many years of expertise in highly complex, sophisticated aluminum castings and, thanks to the successful nomination, can consistently expand its production of components for e-mobility. The crash and certification-relevant aluminum casting must meet the highest safety standards and therefore places high demands on the casting process and subsequent processes. High strength, absolute tightness against moisture and dirt in conjunction with tight tolerances and high corrosion resistance must be guaranteed,
The cylinder heads, in turn, will be manufactured using the gravity casting process from 2023 over a period of four years and installed in a hybrid vehicle.
By winning the orders, Rheinmetall is once again demonstrating its expertise as a competent partner in global vehicle construction across all model variants, not only in the area of modern vehicles that are purely electrically powered, but also in the area of hybrid vehicles.
Both orders are carried out by HASCO KSPG Nonferrous Components (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (KPSNC) in China. It is a joint venture between Rheinmetall and HUAYU Automotive Systems Co., Ltd. (HASCO), a subsidiary of the Chinese SAIC Group. The Castings business unit of Rheinmetall AG consists of the two large companies KS HUAYU AluTech GmbH in Europe and HASCO KSPG Nonferrous Components (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (KPSNC) in China. Rheinmetall and HASCO each hold 50 percent of the shares in the joint ventures.
SOURCE: Rheinmetall
