Johnson bought US auto spare parts provider Delphi's global battery business last July. The move has helped it increase its manufacturing and operations in South Korea, India, Japan, and China.

The expansion in China "represents a major milestone for Johnson Controls' business and heralds the start of a new era for the VARTA brand in the China market," said Steven Gibbs, vice-president and general manager for power solutions Asia of Johnson.

The VARTA car battery will be produced by the firm's wholly owned Shanghai business, which Johnson acquired from Delphi last year. It is also now Johnson's Asia-Pacific headquarters, placing the China market at the centre of its Asia-Pacific development strategy.

"In Shanghai, we can take advantage of the existing and comprehensive industrial base for automotive battery development and production, and the increasingly mature, automotive industrial supply chain," said Luke Lu, sales and marketing vice-president for power solutions Asia.

"Using our Delphi acquisition as the base, we have added Johnson Controls' innovative and advanced technologies and now the VARTA brand."

He also said that "in 2007, we will double our annual production capacity to 6 million batteries from the current 3 million batteries in order to better serve our customers and consumers."

On November 8, Johnson announced the debut of its first VARTA Branded Flagship Store in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province. It also kicked off two image stores in Shanghai and Nanjing recently.

"By 2007, we aim to open 20 flagship and image stores in China," said Lu.

VARTA auto battery, which Johnson acquired in 2002, has more than 100 years of history in Europe and has been the No 1 auto battery brand there with a market share of 35 per cent.

(China Daily 11/22/2006 page10)

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