CHINA TOPIX

05/05/2024 01:13:21 am

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Canada's Magna Building New Factory in China

China Car Seat Factory

Workers at a car factory in Chongqing, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Canada-headquartered global automotive supplier Magna International is opening a new factory in Taizhou, China to supply seating systems to a Chinese car manufacturer.

Magna said its 5,200-square-meter facility in Taizhou will produce complete seating systems that it will supply to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co's Volvo car group.

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Zhejiang Geely is a Chinese multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Hangzhou.

The seat-making facility is scheduled to be completed in the middle of this year, churning out seating systems for crossover utility vehicle, Magna said in Toronto.

Magna, which has a customer list that includes General Motors Co, Volkswagen and Ford Motor, revealed its China expansion during an investor day in Toronto.

The Ontario-based company, however, did not disclose how much is being invested into its new car seat factory in China and how many people will be employed in the facility.

Even with its new facility in China, Magna stays committed to expand around its Ontario home based. Magna chief executive Don Walker said he still sees opportunity for the company in Canada despite strong growth opportunities around the country.

"In my opinion, the governments should be focused on keeping the assembly plants here. A lot of jobs are tied to a geographic region around the assembly plants, so if the assembly plants are kept here, then hopefully the employment in the auto sector will stay," Walker said in an interview in Toronto.

Magna has about 140,000 employees, with 20,000 of them based in Ontario. It was forced to trim its workforce during the global financial crisis in 2009 but has since restored employment to pre crisis-level, according to Walker.

Magna's stock was up 1.67 percent at the Toronto Stock Exchange, gaining 0.89 to $54.06 a share. Over the last five days, shares of Magna gained 1.52 percent on average but are down 3.67 percent for the last year to date.

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