Lear Corp., a global supplier of automotive seating and electrical systems, signed an agreement on June 6 to construct a new and expanded Asia-Pacific regional headquarters and technology complex located in the Yangpu District of Shanghai. Plans for the new building include expansion of the company’s administrative infrastructure, a new product and technology center offering product development capabilities with state-of the-art engineering and testing equipment, and a new Lear innovation studio for Asia. This new multi-story center will include approximately 28,000 square meters (301, 389 square feet) and support Lear’s continued rapid sales growth and development of new business in China and throughout Asia.
“The Asia-Pacific region is the most strategically important region for the global automotive industry, and Shanghai is a major center for automotive activity. We are very pleased to be opening a regional administrative and technical complex in Shanghai, as China is Lear’s fastest-growing market, and our business in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly,” said Matt Simoncini, Lear’s president and CEO. “Over the past three years, Lear’s sales in China have grown at an average annual rate of 10 percent. Our new regional headquarters complex in Shanghai will support industry-leading product development, testing and customer service in one convenient location that includes administrative, engineering, product development, program management, sales and marketing and other technical personnel.”
The new Asia headquarters will support approximately 31,000 Lear employees in 11 countries in Asia, including almost 22,000 in China. Lear manufactures products at 64 locations in Asia and has engineering teams at 16 locations throughout the region. In 2015, Lear’s Asia consolidated sales grew to $3.2 billion. Lear also supports Asia through 17 unconsolidated joint ventures in the region. Sales for 2015 in these unconsolidated joint ventures were about $2 billion, bringing Lear’s total sales in Asia last year to $5.2 billion.
Approximately 800 employees will work out of the new facility, which will showcase the company’s products in automotive seating and electrical systems, as well as high=power products for electrical and hybrid vehicles, electrical distribution systems, including complex gateway modules and the latest in vehicle communication and connectivity capabilities.
“We continue to build upon our portfolio of industry-leading seating and electrical systems and related components,” added Jay Kunkel, Lear’s president of Asia-Pacific Operations. “We are pleased to announce plans for our new regional headquarters and are confident our expanded overall capabilities will continue to serve our existing and future customers at the highest level as we continue to develop new products for Asia as well as globally.”
