Honeywell celebrates new turbo plant in china

Honeywell Turbo Technologies celebrates the grand opening of its new turbocharger plant in Wuhan, Sep 3, 2014. [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Honeywell Turbo Technologies, the leading automotive turbocharger developer, celebrated the grand opening of its new turbocharger plant in Wuhan on Wednesday. The new manufacturing facility will triple Honeywell's turbo production capacity in China, where turbo adoption in new vehicles is expected to increase significantly from today's turbo penetration rate of 23 percent.

"We are really excited about the prospects of the turbo market in China, which already accounts for one-fourth of our global launches this year," said Terrence Hahn, president and CEO of Honeywell Transportation Systems. "With China's keen focus on improving fuel economy and reducing emissions, turbocharging has evolved from a niche technology to a mainstream solution for Chinese consumers. The new facility in Wuhan builds on 20 years of Honeywell's Turbo presence in China, providing the most advanced turbo technologies to local and global customers, faster and better than ever."

As China's fuel economy target tightens from 6.9L/100km in 2015 to 5L/100km in 2020, the world's largest auto market is shifting to a "Turbo Era". Compared to a naturally-aspirated gasoline engine of the same power output, a turbocharged engine provides up to 20 percent better fuel efficiency for gasoline vehicles and up to 40 percent for diesel, while helping reduce emissions by a similar relative amount.

Honeywell's new Wuhan plant is strategically located in one of China's major auto hubs. It spans a total area of 12,550 square meters and is quickly ramping up since it started operations at the end of 2013.

"This new plant further strengthens our commitment to China," said David Paja, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Transportation Systems China and India. "Our strong local roots already include a manufacturing facility in Shanghai and a world-class technology center including our second largest global turbo lab. The Wuhan plant includes the latest manufacturing technology for passenger vehicles and puts us in a better position than ever to turbocharge China's future."

Honeywell Turbo Technologies established its first plant in Shanghai in 1994, and has since produced more than 8 million turbos, serving customers in all segments from on-and-off highway commercial vehicles, to light commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles.

Honeywell Turbo Technologies is the leading automotive turbocharger developer in the world, and is a business unit of Honeywell Aerospace. As a leading automotive supplier, Honeywell enhances vehicle performance and efficiency through state-of-the-art technologies.