Alcoa in Talks With Automakers to Supply Metal for Fuel-Efficient Cars in China
By Scott Doggett September 10, 2009
If it already seems to you that China is positioning itself to exercise substantial control over the green-car market through its natural resources -- and you don't like it -- you're not likely going to like this story one bit.
That's because Bloomberg news service is reporting, and we are relaying, that Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. producer of aluminum, is speaking with unidentified automakers to develop and supply metal for lightweight, energy-efficient vehicles in China as passenger-car sales in that country surge.
"The automobile sector is a strong consumer of aluminum and I believe it will become more so if you combine lightweight and energy efficiency" needs in the future, Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld said today. "There are some companies we're talking to, and that's an area we're seeking to build activities," he said, without giving details.
Passenger-car sales in China soared a record 90 percent last month as tax cuts and subsidies spurred demand, bringing the nation closer to overtaking the U.S. as the world's largest automobile market. Rising vehicle sales in China, as well as building demand, will drive aluminum consumption, Kleinfeld said.
"China is ahead of the curve, and I'm positive of things that are going on," Kleinfeld said while attending the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China.
The Asian nation consumes about seven kilograms of aluminum per capita, compared with 35 kilograms in the U.S., he said, according to Bloomberg. Kleinfeld on Sept. 3 raised Alcoa's forecast for global aluminum consumption because of demand from China.
China's demand will rise 4 percent this year, compared with a previous prediction of no growth, Kleinfeld had said. That changes the company's outlook for global demand to a decline of 5.5 percent from a previous forecast of minus 7 percent.
"Demand in the U.S. is coming back a little and it's a mixed picture in Europe," Kleinfeld said today. The company is open to ventures in China, he added.
General Motors Co., BMW AG and Volkswagen AG make cars in China through local ventures. Alcoa has an existing pact with Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. to develop lighter, aluminum-framed buses in China.
China was recently accused of trying to tighten control on the mining and export of a class of metal ores called rare earth needed in electric vehicles. The country denied the hoarding allegation, saying it was only trying to attract high-tech manufacturing to Inner Mongolia.
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