ZF Friedrichshafen will end 2013 with a 10% increase in sales to an anticipated EUR17bn (US$23bn), driven by new plants in the US and China, high demand for car driveline and chassis technology and a healthy upswing in commercial vehicles, the company said.
CEO Stefan Sommer told the annual press conference in Stuttgart that the company had outstripped the industry average and strengthened its position among the world’s leading automotive suppliers.
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He noted that, particularly in North America, ZF had taken a major step forward with the opening of its new plant in Gray Court in July. In recent years, the company has expanded production of eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions.
A large part of the spend of more than EUR1bn (US$1.3bn) went to Asia-Pacific in 2013 with a new plant for passenger car axle systems in Beijing and the expansion of passenger car axle assembly in Shenyang.
In addition, passenger car axle systems have also been produced in Malaysia since November. Sommer said: “We want to further exploit the market opportunities in these emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region and successively expand our capacities there.”
He added that ZF planned to spend more than EUR1bn a year over the next few years.
This year has ZF hired some 5,200 new employees worldwide, 2,100 of them in Germany. Sommer said this is set to continue to a lesser extent next year; with more than 2,000 new jobs, 25% of these in Germany while sales are anticipated to rise again in 2014 by around 10%.
Sommer said strong growth in North America and Asia-Pacific would also affect long-term corporate strategy: “The sales share of North and South America as well as Asia-Pacific will increase from 40% today to more than 50% in 2025.”
By this time, company sales should have reached around EUR40bn, he added. The long-term strategy includes boosting electronics and lightweight construction expertise, innovation as well as cost leadership.
