Wanfeng's lightweighting tech entices NEVs and green consumers

Dec 14, 2020 (China Knowledge) - As countries around the world pay more and more attention to environmental protection issues, many have put forward stringent requirements to maximize the use of new energy vehicles (NEVs) on the road. Under this backdrop, demand for EVs is expected to grow exponentially.

Tesla (TSLA) and its Chinese EV challengers including U.S-listed NIO (NIO) and Xpeng (XPEV) are seeing their shares prices to reach new highs this year. Most notably is, of course, Tesla, which catapulted 6 times in less than a year to become the world’s highest value automaker. Other auto-related stocks in connection with EV also ride on the wave.

Consumers around the world opt for NEVs for the least pollution and energy consumption. As an auto parts manufacturer, Wanfeng Auto Wheel (002085) has long been committed to providing lightweight solutions for vehicles with a focus on aluminum alloy wheels and magnesium alloy auto parts. Automakers are scrambling to adopt lightweight technologies to cater the consumer preferences.

China is bestowed with the richest magnesium resources in the world, which provides the crucial material to make magnesium alloys for the automobile industry worldwide. The magnesium auto parts can effectively reduce the weight of vehicles and bring down energy consumption, saving drivers’ energy expenses. Many countries have formulated exhaust emissions and fuel consumption standards for passenger cars. Lightweighting is the most direct and effective way to save energy and reduce emissions.

Meridian Lightweight Technologies, as a subsidiary of Wanfeng Auto Wheel, is the world’s largest magnesium alloy parts supplier and has mastered the cutting-edge technologies in magnesium alloy casting, mold design and welding. Its production plants in the U.S, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and China have a global production capacity of 18 mln units. Backtracking its history, Meridian has already established close collaboration with world-renowned automakers including Porsche (VOWG), Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn), Tesla (TSLA), Audi (VOWG) and many other major brands. As a Tier-1 supplier to Tesla since 2014, Meridian has also participated in the product design to supply magnesium alloy components.