Autoliv has announced that it is expanding its operations in Turkey and has recently opened two new manufacturing facilities there.
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The first plant will have the potential to produce one million steering wheels per year when it is fully utilised. This corresponds to approximately one-fifth of Autoliv’s existing European steering wheel capacity.
The new plant will produce both polyurethane-foamed and leather-wrapped steering wheels. Currently, Autoliv Turkey produces polyurethane steering wheels in its assembly plant for airbags and seatbelts.
By moving to a new location, steering wheel production will be expanded and improved at the same time as manufacturing space in the existing plant will be released for Autoliv’s increasing airbag and seatbelt sales. The new manufacturing building provides 4,000 square meters (approx. 40,000 square feet) of production area at the Taysad Industrial Zone in Gebze outside Istanbul.
The second new plant provides another 2,400 square meters (approx. 24,000 square feet) of production area on the same site. This plant will assemble rewinding spring cassettes for seatbelt retractors. The annual manufacturing capacity will eventually exceed 30 million cassettes when the plant is fully utilised. This corresponds to nearly 10% of the industry’s current global spring cassette capacity.
Currently, Autoliv has more than 1,000 of its 40,000 employees in Turkey compared to less than 250 in 2000. Turkish sales have grown from US$10 million in 2000 to exceed US$200 million this year, of which 60% is exported to mostly other Autoliv companies.
Autolive says tha the main customers of Autoliv Turkey are Toyota, Renault, Ford, Tofas-Fiat and Hyundai/Kia.
