Continental is opening of its first non-European turbocharger plant at the Continental site in Jiading, a suburb of Shanghai, China (production starting this month). The new facility will start producing the Raax turbocharger, developed by Continental for the Volkswagen Group’s EA888 Gen.3B engine platform and in production in Europe since 2016 in the Audi A3.
In the Chinese market, this 2.0-litre turbocharged gasoline engine will debut in the VW Teramont SUV, followed by the VW Tiguan and other high-volume models. Meanwhile, at Continental, preparations are already under way for the next round of expansion. This is scheduled for 2018, when production of the Raax turbocharger – for the same Volkswagen Group engine – will launch at a further site, the Continental plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
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“Right from the start, our turbocharger activities have been focused on the gasoline segment, and now this strategy has been vindicated by a sharp rise in demand for turbocharged gasoline engines,” says Wolfgang Breuer, head of Continental’s Engine Systems business unit, which includes the Turbochargers product line. “The new Chinese facility, where our latest technologies will be built to the highest quality standards, will secure us a strong position in the world’s largest automobile market. And by next year, when production will also launch in North America, we will have manufacturing bases across all three market regions, all operating to the same high standards.”
Raax for ‘uniform quality standards worldwide’
The Raax turbine technology developed by Continental, which first went into production in the EA888 engine platform, improves engine response and also increases efficiency. While the most common type of gasoline turbocharger today, the radial turbocharger, features a radial exhaust gas flow to the turbine wheel, the new Continental turbocharger features a radial-axial flow – hence the name Raax. This makes it possible to substantially reduce the size of the turbine wheels, and to reduce the mass moment of inertia by approximately 40%. The turbocharger therefore develops boost pressure more quickly in response to changing engine loads, and turbo lag is minimised. This greater efficiency also leads to reduced emissions. A new solution has also been implemented for the wastegate valve (which stops boost pressure rising too steeply at high engine output) based on an electronically controlled electric actuator developed by Continental.
“We are entering the Chinese market with cutting-edge turbocharger technology identical to that which we are already using in Europe, to meet the strict European emissions standards,” says Udo Schwerdel, head of the Turbochargers product line at Engine Systems. The production processes too, he says, are identical to those used at the European plant in Trutnov, Czech Republic. “We use standardised production processes and manufacturing equipment across all our operations worldwide. All the core processes we developed for our highly automated production system in Trutnov will also be used in Jiading and San Luis Potosi. This will help to facilitate and speed communication, employee training and sharing of lessons learned between the plants, and will support us in our goal of ensuring benchmark quality at all our sites across the world.”
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By GlobalDataContinental employs a total workforce of approximately 1,600 people in Jiading, where a range of products are built, including ABS systems. “This plant has been operating successfully for many years, and its mechanical engineering expertise will give us a useful head start when it comes to producing turbochargers,” says Schwerdel. From its current production footprint of about 2,000 sq m, the turbocharger facility is set to expand further next year – with the construction of a new building. Continental’s total investment in the new manufacturing location will run to a high double-digit million euro sum.
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