Beru AG has been awarded a long-term contract to supply General Motors and Fiat with glow plugs for the current generation of Opel and Fiat diesel engines.
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According to a company statement issued on Thursday, the Ludwigsburg-based supplier, from March 2004, will equip four-valve, four-cylinder diesel engines made by the Fiat GM Powertrain joint venture with ultra slim four-millimetre ‘slim line’ glow plugs for low-emission diesel cold drivability. The engines are used in models such as the Opel Vectra and Signum and Fiat, Alfa and Lancia vehicles.
Beru will also supply glow plugs for the new four-cylinder small JTD turbodiesel engine line built by Fiat GM Powertrain.
From 2004 to 2007, over eight million glow plugs in total are scheduled to be produced for these engine types. In the last business year, Beru generated almost half of its €303.1 million turnover in the core business unit of diesel cold-start technology.
In 2003, 43.7% of new vehicles sold in Europe had diesel engines. In the last few months, 7% more new diesel vehicles hit German roads than in the previous year.
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By GlobalDataBeru executive board chairman Marco von Maltzan, who is continuing to focus business activities on diesel by pursuing the existing niche strategy, is confident: “With the newly developed ‘slim line’ glow plugs for GM and Fiat and the diesel instant-start system in the new [Volkswagen] Golf, we are continuing to concentrate on the ongoing rise of diesel.
“The development of new diesel engine technologies and the opportunities presented by the markets opening up in North America and Asia create a healthy business environment for Beru to further drive on the automotive use of diesel, and diesel cold-start technology in particular.”
Von Maltzan noted that, in Germany, several mineral oil companies have started adding tax-exempt biodiesel to regular diesel fuel while the European Union is considering the promotion of new ecological fuel concepts such as sun diesel made from biomass or synthetic diesel derived from natural gas.
“These trends render the diesel engine an even more interesting proposition,” he added.
