Continental is now looking to expand its geographic footprint in the turbocharger market with the opening of its first non-European turbocharger plant at the Continental site in Jiading, a suburb of Shanghai, China.
In October this new facility will start producing the cutting-edge RAAX™ turbocharger, developed by Continental for the Volkswagen Group's EA888 Gen.3B engine platform and in production in Europe since 2016 in the Audi A3. In the Chinese market, this 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine will debut in the VW Teramont SUV, followed by the VW Tiguan and other high-volume models.
Meanwhile, at Continental, preparations are already under way for the next round of expansion. This is scheduled for 2018, when production of the RAAX™ turbocharger - for the same Volkswagen Group engine - will launch at a further site, the Continental plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
"Right from the start, our turbocharger activities have been focused on the gasoline segment, and now this strategy has been vindicated by a sharp rise in demand for turbocharged gasoline engines," says Wolfgang Breuer, head of Continental's Engine Systems business unit, which includes the Turbochargers product line. "The new Chinese facility, where our latest technologies will be built to the highest quality standards, will secure us a strong position in the world's largest automobile market. And by next year, when production will also launch in North America, we will have manufacturing bases across all three market regions, all operating to the same high standards."
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