GKN to make more electric drives in China
GKN Driveline announced its plans for the construction of a new plant in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province, through its Chinese joint venture SDS. The facility is an expansion of GKN’s existing presence in the PRC and will make gears for eDrive systems.
The decision comes in the wake of the ever growing market for hybrid and electric vehicles in China. GKN Driveline has reserved 10,000 m2 for its Pinghu plant where it will initially manufacture gears for eDrive systems. Demand is already there as GKN has won a number of key electric driveline programs that will be delivered by JV partner Shanghai GKN HUAYU Driveline Systems (SDS).
Operation is to commence during the second quarter of 2018 and the first eDrive unit produced by SDS for a domestic Chinese automaker is due to roll off production lines later this year. Ramp up of production is to follow suit in the coming years as GKN forecasts its JV partner could be manufacturing 1 million eDrive units per year by 2025.
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