S. Korea's erae Automotive to supply auto parts to Maserati

South Korea’s car parts maker, erae Automotive Systems Co., said Monday that it will supply its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning parts to Italian luxury carmaker Maserati’s first sports utility model.

The Korean maker was chosen to provide the cold start switch (CSS) on the fascia and air conditioning electronic control unit (ECU) in the engine room of the brand’s first SUV dubbed “Levante.”

The company competed with big Japanese names like Panasonic Corp. and Denso Corp. for the air conditioning control unit and scored the highest in technology, pricing and supply capacity among the bidders in the final auction in September last year. Under the deal, it will supply 20 billion won ($16.8 million) to 30 billion won worth parts to Maserati from 2016 to 2020.

The deal is more symbolic as it paved a way for the Korean automotive parts maker to crack into the exclusive high-end car industry.

erae Automotive Systems, founded in 1984, is a company of 110 billion won capital that recorded sales of 1.1 trillion won last year. It has long supplied its air conditioning systems, air compressors and air brakes to Daewoo Group, and global carmakers across over 20 countries, like Chrysler and Fiat, are some of its other clients.

Among 2,003 employees, 350 are committed to research and development (R&D) for quality improvement. Headquartered in Daegu, it runs five factories and three R&D institutes at home and 30 factories in 12 countries. It started off with a 50 percent stake of foreign investors in 1984 but 92.3 percent of the stake is now owned by its major shareholder at home.

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