Vehicle interior specialist Grupo Antolin has announced the opening of a new Innovation Center in Shanghai, China, which it claims will strengthen its R&D, innovation and technological development capabilities in the region. The company hopes the facility will facilitate faster adaptation to the needs and requirements of its customers in the country, especially in terms of EV development.
The company states that the center houses it Chinese headquarters and brings together all of its corporate, engineering and technological development teams. Additionally, the center has an electronics laboratory and a showroom where customers can see the company’s latest technology and products.
Despite seeing a fall in revenues across its markets in 2020, Ernesto Antolin, chairman of Grupo Antolin, noted that though the Covid-19 pandemic makes for a challenging business environment, there was still a need for expansion and innovation: “Although the priority is to deal with the crisis, Covid-19 will not stop us. We want to lead, from the vehicle interior, the change being experienced by the automotive industry, which will be accelerated by this crisis. We continue to launch new projects and initiatives – the best example being the new Innovation Center – as part of the transformation we started some time ago, with the aim of strengthening our position as a global supplier of technological solutions for the interior.”
The opening of the Chinese base follows the announcement of a strategic partnership with a German supplier of built-in electronic systems, AED Engineering, with the aim of improving the group’s electronics capabilities.
