Althoff

“We are actively contacting and staying in dialogue with Chinese car makers — the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., First Automobile Works, Cherry, just to name a few — and their Tier 1 suppliers,” said Hermann Althoff, BASF’s group vice president for engineering plastics in the Asia Pacific.

“Despite the crisis, penetration of sophisticated engineering plastics solutions into the Chinese automobile industry is increasing,” he said in an interview with Plastics News at the Chinaplas show in Guangzhou.

For example, Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd. of Hefei, Anhui province is using BASF’s Ultramid glass-fiber-reinforced nylon to make the plastic air intake manifold for its ‘Refine’ MPV.

BASF also touted China’s first lower bumper stiffener that’s developed with the aid of BASF’s Integrative Simulation software. The series-built nylon component was recently introduced in the new ‘Regal’ model by Shanghai General Motors.

Althoff illustrated the potential of the Chinese market with some plain facts: In Europe, cars use an average of 20 kilograms of nylon, while the number averages 5-6 kilograms in China. The global crisis is also giving a strong push for Chinese companies to strive for innovation.

“It is a time when customers really need to differentiate themselves from competitors.” He said some customers are accelerating critical projects in order to launch new products even faster than before.

Althoff said the India market for engineering resin is catching up, but the size remains much smaller than China.