UK - The supplier has opened a new aluminium casting facility in Telford, England, in order to provide structural castings to Jaguar Land Rover. The facility covers 225,000 sq.m and will employ around 300 people.
"With this new aluminium casting facility, we have established a world-class centre of excellence to bring the most advanced structural casting technologies to the UK," said John Farrell, president of Cosma International - an operating unit wholly-owned by Magna that specialises in making automotive body systems such as exterior sheet metal and closure systems, as well as automotive chassis systems such as frames, subframes, and links.
Magna's patented vacuum die-casting process will be carried out at the facility to make the structural castings. According to the company, these help OEMs to make components that maximise strength and stiffness while simultaneously minimising weight.
Ben Goater, general manager of Cosma Castings UK, added: "The manufacture of aluminium castings is an important building block for the next generation of all-aluminium and multi-material vehicle architectures."
This is one of several recent announcements made by Magna as it looks to expand its global footprint. The company has also started a new joint venture with Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts (BHAP) in order to supply door modules to Chinese carmakers, and is now working with BAIC to create a new electric vehicle architecture.
