BorgWarner Board Approves a $125 Million Turbocharger Expansion for New Business in North America, Europe & Asia
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 1 - The Board of Directors of BorgWarner Inc. has approved investments of approximately $125 million to increase the company's global passenger car turbocharger capacity by more than three million units. The increased capacity is expected to meet growing demand for the company's fuel-efficient turbocharger technology and will support new business awards in North America, Europe and Asia. The
investments include construction of new facilities in Mexico and Thailand, and
expansion of facilities in Hungary and Poland. The added capacity will
produce turbochargers for both diesel and gasoline engines. The spending for
these projects will occur over the next few years.
"With new business awards, additional capacity is essential to meet
customer demands for our market-leading turbocharger technology," said Tim
Manganello, BorgWarner Chairman and CEO. "The continued growth of diesel
engines around the world and the move to gasoline direct injected engines in
North America provide us an opportunity to leverage our turbocharger
technology expertise as never before. We will be well positioned to serve our
customers' needs as the world market for turbochargers expands. The demand
for turbochargers is expected to grow over 40% in the next five years, from 19
million units to 27 million as more engines are downsized and turbocharged and
more sophisticated engines incorporate multiple turbochargers."
North America: North American turbocharger production for passenger cars
is expected to more than double from 1 million units today to 2.3 million by
2013. Gasoline and diesel turbocharged engines are a key part of every major
automakers' future plans in North America. A turbocharger facility to be
built on the BorgWarner campus in Ramos, Mexico is expected to start
production in mid-2010 to supply a major North American gasoline
direct-injected engine program.
Europe: The third expansion of the Hungary plant will accommodate
production of an advanced turbocharger system for a new gasoline engine
program and programs for small diesel engines with critical European
customers. The facility in Poland, which just began construction in March, is
already sold to capacity and will move into a second phase expansion
immediately. The expansion will double its floor space to accommodate a
number of additional programs for small diesel engines.
Demand for small diesel turbocharged vehicles continues to rise sharply in
Europe. Diesel turbocharger production is expected to grow 20% in Europe from
about 11.8 million units today to 14.2 million units in 2013. Over the same
period, European gasoline turbocharger production is expected to more than
double from about 1.6 million units to 3.8 million units.
Asia: Thailand was selected as a strategic location for expansion of
turbocharger production in Asia to support both local and ASEAN demand.
Current turbocharger demand in Thailand is increasing rapidly with several
Japanese and North American based automakers in the process of expanding
production there. With its more advanced and proven technology, BorgWarner
stands to gain as the market expands. Turbocharger production in Asia is
expected grow 48% by 2013 to 6.7 million units.
Auburn Hills, Michigan-based BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA) is a product
leader in highly engineered components and systems for vehicle powertrain
applications worldwide. The FORTUNE 500 company operates manufacturing and
technical facilities in 64 locations in 17 countries. Customers include
VW/Audi, Ford, Toyota, Renault/Nissan, General Motors, Hyundai/Kia, Daimler,
Chrysler, Fiat, BMW, Honda, John Deere, PSA, and MAN. The Internet address for
BorgWarner is: www.borgwarner.com .
SOURCE BorgWarner Inc.
CONTACT: Mary Brevard of BorgWarner Inc.,
+1-248-754-0881/
Web site: www.borgwarner.com /
