Japanese Boshoku moves into Czech Republic

Japanese owned automotive parts supplier Boshoku Automotive Europe GmbH. (BAE) plans to establish its first new manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic.

BAE, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toyota Boshoku Corporation, has formed a new €3m local business, Boshoku Automotive Czech s.r.o. and is to set up the interior components plant in Pilsen, Czech Republic. It will go into production in mid 2013.

BAE develops and produces vehicle interior parts such as door trims and headliners for major German car manufacturers including BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen Group and Opel.

The company was established in July 2011 after Toyota Boshoku Europe bought most operations of the auto interiors business of Austrian components supplier Polytec Holding in Germany, Poland and South Africa.  A Polytec interiors plant in Zaragoza, Spain with a turnover of around €30m was sold to the Spanish company Celulosa Fabril this year for an undisclosed sum.  

The new Boshoku Automotive Czech manufacturing facility is due to employ a workforce of around 50 when it starts up, according to BAE of Geretsried, Germany.

BAE’s existing plants are located at Geretsried, Ebersdorf, Waldbroel and Hodenhagen in Germany and at Tomaszow in Poland.

Last year, Toyota Boshoku, then the world’s third ranked automotive interiors manufacturer, recorded annual sales worth €8.7bn.

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