BorgWarner expanding turbocharger business
5 May 2008
BorgWarner will invest $125 million to increase its global passenger car turbocharger capacity by more than three million units. The increased capacity will support new business awards in North America, Europe and Asia, said BorgWarner.
The investment includes construction of new facilities in Mexico and Thailand, and expansion of facilities in Hungary and Poland. The added capacity will produce turbochargers for both diesel and gasoline engines. The spending for these projects will occur over the next few years.
A turbocharger facility to be built by BorgWarner in Ramos, Mexico is expected to start production in mid-2010 to supply a major North American gasoline direct-injected engine program.
The third expansion of the BorgWarner Hungary plant will accommodate production of an advanced turbocharger system for a new gasoline engine program and programs for small diesel engines with European customers. The facility in Poland, which began construction in March, is already sold to capacity and will move into a second phase expansion immediately, said BorgWarner. The expansion will double its floor space to accommodate a number of additional programs for small diesel engines.
BorgWarner predicts a continued expansion in turbocharger demand, driven by the growth of diesel engines around the world and the move to gasoline direct-injected engines in North America. The demand for turbochargers is expected to grow over 40% in the next five years, from 19 million units to 27 million, as more engines are downsized and more sophisticated engines incorporate multiple turbochargers.
- North American turbocharger production for passenger cars is expected to more than double from 1 million units today to 2.3 million by 2013.
- Turbocharger production in Asia is expected grow 48% by 2013 to 6.7 million units.
- Diesel turbocharger production is expected to grow 20% in Europe from about 11.8 million units today to 14.2 million units in 2013. Over the same period, European gasoline turbocharger production is expected to more than double from about 1.6 million units to 3.8 million units.
Source: BorgWarner