Lightweight Automotive Components
CITIC Dicastal is the world’s largest producer of automotive aluminium wheels. Its products include wheels and lightweight cast components for powertrains, chassis, and body systems for the automotive industry. Total annual production capacity amounts to 89 million wheels and 200,000 tonnes of castings.
CITIC Dicastal has 29 major manufacturing facilities across China, the United States, Europe, and Africa.
CITIC Dicastal has 29 major manufacturing facilities across China, the United States, Europe, and Africa.
Year in Review
As the global pandemic eases and supply chains stabilise, global automotive demand is gradually recovering. In 2023, the global automotive industry reflected a moderate growth trend. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China’s cumulative automobile production and sales reached 30.161 million units and 30.094 million units respectively, representing a year-on-year increase of 11.6% and 12%. On 18 December 2023, CITIC Limited announced the proposed spin-off and separate listing of CITIC Dicastal on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. CITIC Limited believes that the proposed spin-off will bolster the capital strength of CITIC Dicastal, enhance its financing efficiency and flexibility, optimise corporate governance and enhance investors’ understanding of the company.Customers
Major customers of CITIC Dicastal’s aluminium wheels include 12 leading global automakers, among them Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, as well as major Chinese automakers including FAW, SAIC and Dongfeng. Major customers for lightweight aluminium cast components include Daimler, Volkswagen, Nissan and Geely.Project Construction
To advance the company’s international business development, CITIC Dicastal has been constructing aluminium casting production bases in Morocco and Mexico.Located in Kenitra, Morrocco, the Moroccan aluminium casting production base has a designed production capacity of 5 million lightweight aluminium castings for automobiles. On 25 January 2023, the production facility was completed, and on 9 March 2023, it passed the customer audit and was ready for production. The project accomplished planned milestones as scheduled, from design and construction to full process integration, enhancing the brand influence and international competitiveness of Chinese automotive component manufacturing companies.
Located in Saltillo in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, the first phase of the Mexican aluminium casting production base is designed with a production capacity of five million aluminium casting products. The project commenced construction on 26 October 2023, with equipment procurement and preparations for production operation progressing on schedule.
R&D
With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the demand for lightweight automotive components has been increasing. CITIC Dicastal, through continuous industrial innovation in areas of material properties, production technology, simulation analysis and testing, has established a distinctive ecosystem with Dicastal characteristics. This has resulted in a series of proprietary intellectual property rights providing customers with systematic lightweight solutions.In order to capture the opportunity in the transformation of the automotive manufacturing industry, CITIC Dicastal has been diligently investing in the R&D of technology and equipment involved in the formation of large-scale integrated structural components. The company has successfully mastered the capability for integrated die-casting, and subsequently launched its first product, for which it has applied for more than 20 patents. These efforts and successes have enhanced the company’s overall competitiveness in the market.
To implement the “green dual carbon” development strategy, CITIC Dicastal has been carrying out R&D on low-carbon emission technologies throughout the product life cycle. The company has established a carbon emission assessment system and developed a platform for managing carbon emissions across the entire product life cycle. In addition, it has formulated two industry standards, five corporate standards, and applied for three patents, thereby setting an example as a pioneer in the industry, consequently enhancing its influence on the industry as a whole.
Addressing the problem of insufficient flexibility when processing casting products, CITIC Dicastal successfully developed a flexible sawing technology and completed automation and integration upgrades. This made possible flexibility during the production of casting products, which significantly improved production efficiency.
CITIC Dicastal conducted in-depth research in areas such as the intelligent identification of microstructures, full-cycle simulation, and the aggregation and integration of R&D data. The company also achieved interim progress in the building of data models and acceleration of digital transformation.