German multinational ThyssenKrupp is building a chassis production base in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei province in central China.
A foundation ceremony for the joint venture has been held at the Donghu New and High-Tech Development Zone in the city. The Germans is investing 500 million yuan (USD60 million) in the joint venture, holding a 51 percent stake. Wuhan Zhongren Auto Parts Co owns 49 percent.
Its first-phase project, involving 150 million yuan (USD18 million) should be finished by June 2005.
ThyssenKrupp already has assets in China. It has a joint venture called TAGAL with Angang New Steel to build and operate a hot dip galvanising facility which went into operation in 2003 with a capacity of 400.000 metric tons per year. There is also a tailored blanks business, also with Wuhan Zhongren.
Additional tailored blank facilities are planned for Changchun, Shanghai, Guangzhouand Beijing.
In the stainless steel business the flagship is a cold-rolling mill operated by Shanghai Krupp Stainless together with the Baosteel Group. Phase one with a capacity of 72,000tpa started commercial production in November 2001. When the final phase is completed at the end of 2005 it will have a capacity of 400,000tpa.
