BASF was honored with the Technological Progress Award from Shanghai General Motors Company Ltd (SGM) for the first time. The award recognized BASF’s outstanding contributions to the technological progress and local innovation of SGM in 2013. BASF is the only chemical company in the year to have won the award from SGM.
“BASF is committed to playing an important part in supporting the innovation of China’s automotive industry and the transformation of the country from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Innovated in China’,” said Albert Heuser, president, Functions BASF Asia Pacific, President and chairman BASF Greater China. “With a strong global R&D network, BASF is the largest chemical partner of the global automotive industry. Our Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Shanghai will serve as a powerful innovation hub for BASF in the region, helping us to get closer to local customers and provide them with customized technologies, materials and processes, so as to support the innovation-driven growth strategies of our customers.” Established in 1997, SGM is a joint venture between SAIC Motor and General Motors. With its “Green Future” strategy, the company focuses on technological innovation to drive sustainable development across the value chain.
Since 1998, BASF has been a reliable partner to SGM and its Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), one of the earliest joint venture automotive R&D centers in China, responsible for design and engineering. BASF supplies a full range of innovative sustainable solutions, including automotive coatings, mobile emission catalysts, engineering plastics, polyurethanes and brake fluids.
“SGM has been one of the most important automotive customers for BASF in China. We are honored to receive this Technological Progress Award, which recognizes BASF’s strong capability of driving technological innovation with customers,” said Jeffrey Lou, vice president, business management, Greater China, BASF and Sponsor of SGM Key Account Team, BASF Industry Management Automotive China. “BASF is committed to supporting SGM in meeting the demands of the China market while strengthening local R&D capabilities and we work very closely with SGM-PATAC to develop customized innovative solutions that address local consumer needs.”
The new Buick Riviera concept car, developed by SGM-PATAC won the Red Dot Award in 2013, demonstrating strong automotive design competency in China. This concept car featured a unique Ice Cyan-jade coating co-developed by BASF and PATAC. In December 2013, BASF and PATAC signed a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation to further reinforce and expand the technical collaboration bringing together the strengths in materials science and engineering from both companies and develop more innovative and competitive automotive applications for SGM.