Continental AG Group Invest New Plant in Changsha

On 11th of October, signing ceremony for a comprehensive cooperation project was held between the Changsha Municipal People's Government and the Continental AG to carry out the cooperation and innovation of smart city. This also marked another world top 500 enterprise settled in Changsha. Mr. Hu Henghua, Member of The Standing Committee of The Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, Mr. Tang En, President and CEO of Continental AG ,China, attended and witnessed the signing.

Continental AG, which founded in 1871 in Hannover, Germany, ranked 206th in the world's top 500 in 2018. It was the fourth largest tire manufacturer and one of the top five auto parts suppliers in the world, with the top three automotive electronics manufacturing in the world. At the signing ceremony, the Continental AG signed an agreement with the Changsha Municipal People's Government, Management Committee of Hunan Xiangjiang New Area and Administrative Committee of Changsha Economic Development Zone. According to the agreement, Changsha Municipal People's Government would cooperate with the Continental AG in the development of smart city innovation demonstrations to help Changsha build a modern regional smart city with international influence. Hunan Xiangjiang New Area would cooperate with Continental AG in 5 aspects ,including smart city construction and intelligent travel, covering intelligent system test area, “Xiangjiang Zhigu • Artificial Intelligence Technology City”, Automatic Driving Public Transportation, Industrial Fund and Government-Industry Cooperation. At the same time, Continental AG would invest in the construction of a central electronic factory project in Changsha Economic Development Zone and Changsha County. This is the 28th industrial investment project established by the company in China, and jointly developing smart cities and smart travel demonstrations.

In the meeting, Mr. Hu Henghua stated that in recent years, Changsha has set a goal of building a national intelligent manufacturing center, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and transforming old and new kinetic energy, and cultivating billions of industrial clusters such as construction machinery, electronic information, new materials, automobile manufacturing and food, especially in the field of automobiles and parts. Changsha took new energy vehicles and intelligent network vehicles as the direction to preempt the layout, seize the commanding heights, intensify innovation, accelerate industrial upgrading, and form a whole industry chain integrating R&D, manufacturing, sale and service of complete vehicles and key components. The choice of Continental AG was a strategic and win-win method, which would surely write a great deal for China-Germany economic and trade cooperation. Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Changsha Municipal People's Government would create first-class business environment and innovation ecology, fully serve and support the development of the Continental AG in Changsha, and jointly turn the central electronics factory, smart city and smart travel demonstration projects into a new benchmark for smart manufacturing.

Mr. Tang En said that the three cooperation agreements signed this time would help Continental AG to comprehensively carry out research and development work on automated driving and intelligent network vehicles. In the next stage, Continental AG would take advantage of its technology and join hands with Changsha to achieve win-win cooperation and jointly develop Changsha into a modern regional smart city with international influence.