Hella Opens Further Electronics Factory in China

LIPPSTADT, GERMANY – August 24, 2012: The Hella Group is reinforcing its local presence in China. With Hella Electronic Device Co., Ltd. (HED), the world-leading lighting and electronics supplier is opening a further production facility in Xiamen. The new location is intended to become established as a leading Asian production center for automotive relays and in this way develop further attractive product segments for the Hella Group. "The Chinese car market is becoming ever more important", says Dr. Rolf Breidenbach, CEO at Hella. "With the new factory we are reinforcing our relationship with the manufacturers with local production facilities and laying the foundation for further profitable growth."

The subsidiary HED will develop and produce automotive relays and other electronic products for the regional market from its base in the Torch Hi-tech industrial development zone in Xiamen. These components are used in numerous electronic applications in modern vehicles, for instance vehicle control systems, door locking systems, electronic windows, seat controllers, as well as lighting systems, air-conditioners and ABS systems. Hella supplies these products to numerous leading regional automotive manufacturers and parts manufacturers, including Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, Shanghai General Motors, Hyundai Motors and Delphi Automotive. "Intensive customer proximity is a key factor for long-term corporate success in China", says Dr. Rolf Breidenbach. "With the new electronics factory Hella can now better address the needs of the local market and customers."

In total, over 3,800 employees work for Hella in China at ten production, development, and administrative locations. These companies achieved sales of approximately 360 million euros in past fiscal year 2011/2012. This corresponds to around a seven percent share of the Hella Group's sales worldwide. "Our Chinese companies are making an ever larger contribution to the success of the organization as a whole", says Dr. Rolf Breidenbach. "Accordingly we want to continuously increase our turnover on the Chinese car market also in the future. The new factory in Xiamen is a further promising step."