Power steering specialist China Automotive Systems (CAAS) says it has successfully passed a supplier evaluation by European heavy commercial specialist IVECO.

It says IVECO recently sent a team of technology and quality review officers to the company's production centre in China. Their weeklong thorough evaluation ranged from technical review, IVECO's Daily van project product procedures, production management, product quality standard, and material quality report (MQR) to testing workshop quality control, aftermarket management, procurement inspection, and pre-production rectification verification. After CAAS successfully passed the evaluation, IVECO awarded CAAS the development right for the IVECO Daily van project.

Qizhou Wu, Chief Executive Officer of CAAS, said: "Daily van is one of the most iconic large light-duty commercial vans in the world. We are honoured to soon be part of the supply chain for this longest-running vehicle brand with 40 years history and 3 million units sold over 110 geographic markets. At the same time, we are proud that our product design and development capabilities along with proven production management received high remarks from IVECO supplier review officers."

Based in Hubei Province China Automotive Systems is a supplier of power steering components and systems to the Chinese automotive industry, operating through eight Sino-foreign joint ventures. The company offers a full range of steering system parts for passenger automobiles and commercial vehicles and offers four separate series of power steering with an annual production capacity of over 6 million sets of steering gears, columns and steering hoses. Its customer base includes China FAW Group, Corp., Dongfeng Auto Group Co., Ltd., BYD Auto Company Limited, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. and Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. in China, and Chrysler Group LLC in North America.