South Korea Joint Venture: Eberspaecher Expands Customer Base to Include Hyundai Kia
ESSLINGEN, Germany and HWASEONG CITY, South Korea, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In order to supply Hyundai Kia, exhaust specialist Eberspaecher, located in Esslingen, Germany is collaborating with South Korean car supplier Wooshin Industrial of Dangjin City. As a first step, a joint venture has now been set up for the South Korean market under the name of Wooshin Eberspaecher AG in Hwaseong City. Further joint ventures to supply the Korean vehicle manufacturer are planned around the world.
"Thanks to the co-operative link-up with Wooshin we are able to expand our customer base to include Hyundai Kia," explains Eberspaecher CEO Dr. Thomas Wuensche. Until now the leading exhaust specialist has been represented in the South Korean market by a sales and development branch office; this is the first time it has ventured into local production.
In future, Wooshin Eberspaecher AG will supply so-called hot ends, i.e. particulate filters and catalytic converters, to manufacturer Hyundai Kia in its home market. Currently, joint venture partner Wooshin Industrial Co. Ltd., which has around 330 employees, supplies Hyundai Kia in South Korea with muffler assemblies - so-called cold ends - and exhaust manifolds.
An important component of the co-operation agreement is the agreed know-how and technology transfer. Wuensche stresses: "With Eberspaecher's technological edge in diesel and hot end technology, Wooshin will be able to adopt an excellent strategic position in the domestic market".
The Korean car group is also set to be supplied with hot and cold ends in future via further joint ventures of the two partner companies in international markets, for example the USA, India, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Brazil.
Eberspaecher ranks amongst the leading system developers and suppliers of exhaust technology, vehicle heaters and bus air conditioning systems worldwide and is also involved in automotive electronics and automotive bus systems for electronic networking in the vehicles. Its customers include almost all European and North American, and increasingly more Asian manufacturers of passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In 2009, the internationally positioned group of companies, with approximately 5,300 employees, posted sales of over 1.3 billion Euros.
Press contact:
J. Eberspächer GmbH & Co. KG
Gabriela Schoppe
Head of Public Relations
Eberspächerstrasse 24
73730 Esslingen
GERMANY
Phone: +49-711-939-0224
Fax: +49-711-939-160224
gabriela.schoppe@eberspaecher.com
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