Business Wire India

Panasonic Corporation (TOKYO:6752) announced today that it held an opening ceremony for a new automotive lithium-ion battery factory in Dalian, China.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170426006938/en/

The new Dalian Factory (Photo: Business Wire)

The factory is Panasonic's first automotive battery cell production site in China. Panasonic will further strengthen its global competitiveness in the automotive battery industry by the establishment of production sites in Japan, the United States, and China.

With an increasing awareness of environmental issues, the market for eco-friendly vehicles is expanding every year, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all-electric vehicles. Panasonic has provided automotive lithium-ion batteries to a number of auto manufacturers on a global basis and is leading the automotive battery market. Furthermore, in response to further increase in the demand of high-performance automotive lithium-ion batteries, Panasonic not only increased production at Japanese sites but will also start automotive battery cell production in the United States in 2017. The newly constructed factory in China is a new production facility of Panasonic Automotive Energy Dalian Co., Ltd., an automotive battery joint venture established between Panasonic and Dalian Levear Electric Co., Ltd. in February 2016.

Panasonic is aiming to achieve 2 trillion yen in sales for the overall automotive business, including infotainment systems and industrial devices, in the fiscal year 2019 (ending March 31, 2019) which marks the 100^th anniversary of the company's founding. Panasonic will develop the new factory into a core manufacturing site in China, and further strengthen its automotive battery business.

[Overview of the new factory]Site area:Approx. 170,000 m²Floor area:Approx. 80,000 m²Production items:Prismatic type lithium-ion batteries for eco-friendly vehiclesProduction launch:Fiscal 2018, ending March 31, 2018[Overview of the joint venture company (as of April 2017)]Name:Panasonic Automotive Energy Dalian Co., Ltd.Location:177 Haiming Street, Dalian Free Trade Zone, Liaoning, People's Republic of ChinaEstablishment:February 2016Capital:273 million RMBRepresentatives:Chairman: Guochen Liu, Managing Director: Nobukazu YamanishiBusiness operations:Design, manufacture, sales, and after-sales services of automotive batteries for eco-friendly vehicles.Employees:Approx. 500 (FY2018 plan)

About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, enterprise solutions and device industries. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates 474 subsidiaries and 94 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.553 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2016. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers. To learn more about Panasonic: http://www.panasonic.com/global.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170426006938/en/
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE :
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170426006938/en/