Japan's electrical vehicle drive system (e-Alxe) maker Nidec is slated to inaugurate its second plant and new R&D center in China's northeastern city Dalian, aiming to strengthen its sales reach in the China EV market, according to Japanese media reports.
Japan's Nikkei recently reported Nidec is proceeding with equipment installations at the new facilities to open next month, adding that its first EV components plant in Dalian has entered volume production since 2021.
The new R&D center in Dalian will be Nidec's largest overseas base of its kind, and the total land area of the center and the second plant will be 1.5 times that of the first fab, with a total investment of JPY100 billion (US$760 million) in each phase of construction, the report said.
Despite ever-rising international geopolitical conflicts, Nidec still puts its investment focus on the Chinese market to better serve its Chinese EV clients. The company currently also operates automotive components manufacturing plants in other Chinese cities, including Zhejiang province's Pinghu, Guangdong's Panyu and Huangpu, and Jiangsu's Changzhou.
In response to major rivals like Bosch and ZF actively strengthening deployments in the China market, Nidec is determined to enhance its R&D in China so that it can work with automakers and supply chain partners from the early stages of EV manufacturing. However, the most-advanced products will still be developed in Japan, Nikkei reported.
Nidec has also announced plans to build a new plant in Mexico for the production of e-Alxe systems, with construction to kick off in fiscal 2023 (April 2023-March 2024) at a total cost of JPY100 billion.
Its new president Hiroshi Kobe has said that Nidec also has plans to establish manufacturing operations in Poland, and its newly established fab in Serbia will soon start commercial production.
By fiscal 2025, Nidec aims to achieve annual global sales of four million e-Axle units, but with a production capacity of eight million units per year. In this regard, the company will continue to enforce its established strategy of thorough cost control to improve profitability, boost market shares, and diversify deployments in major automotive markets.
Article translated by Willis Ke
