Photo Credit: Seeker401

Magna International, (TSX:MG.A) in joint partnership with the National Research Council, is opening a new $7.2M research and development facility in Concord, Ontario with the help of the federal government. This facility will focus on the development of lightweight, low cost, environmentally friendly, safer and more durable car parts for future cars designed with reduced fuel consumption needs in mind. The Magna-NRC Composite Centre of Excellence will be fitted with state of the art moulding equipment for thermoplastic compounds such as direct long fibre and sheet moulding compound.

Bob Brownlee, President of Magna Exteriors and Interiors, stated that “the Magna-NRC Composite Centre of Excellence will help reinforce Magna’s position as a supplier of lightweight, cost-effective composite solutions to the global automotive market.” Although this may not create a substantial amount of new jobs, Canadian Auto Workers union economist Jim Stanford says “It’s very important for Canada to develop our made-in-Canada expertise in the auto industry. For too long we relied on foreign companies to bring the technology, the machinery and the products to us and then we would manufacture them.” Soon the world will be looking to Canada for automotive parts and the technology to build them. Global fuel concerns make this project an exciting endeavor. Reduced weight equates to reduced consumption.

At a news conference, Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement said “This ability to build the world’s lightest, most durable cars – vehicles that will also be affordable to average Canadians – well, I don’t have to tell you how worthy this goal is or how exciting this goal is. I’m passionate about the fact that this NRC-Magna partnership creates the right conditions for a breakthrough in next-generation automotive technology.” By opening up the facility to smaller companies, Canadians will be able to gain insight to a global variety of innovative approaches while granting them access to the best tools and technology with which to innovate and create. Joint project work in composites will begin immediately, while the new research facility is expected to be operational in summer 2010.

Magna is Canada’s biggest auto parts company and employs approximately 72,000 people worldwide. They have 242 manufacturing plants and 86 product development, engineering and sales centers in 25 countries and are third largest in the world. Although it has not been stated what portion of the $7.2M the federal government will be covering, their interest in this project is clear. This will make Canada a manufacturing hub for lightweight cars of the future. As energy prices climb and environmental concerns about fuels increase, reducing the weight of vehicles has become Magna’s focus.

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Tags: auto industry, automobiles, magna international, manufacturing, ontario

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Environment, Federal Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.