Panasonic is looking for a more immersive business experience in the automobile sector.
In view of Tesla Motor’s impending plans of releasing the Model 3, Panasonic Corp has disclosed that if asked it could move up investments plans for the company battery plant in view of the strong demand for the electric vehicle.
“We will do our best to move up the schedule if requested,” said Yoshio Ito, head of Panasonic’s automotive and industrial systems (AIS) division.
Panasonic aims to invest $1.6 billion in Tesla’s $5 billion “Gigafactory” in a phased manner. The production of the advanced car batteries is scheduled to start sometime in 2017.
The increased interest in the Model 3, Tesla said it plans on quickly ramping up its battery plant, a crucial step, to service the brisk demand. Already it has planned of producing 500,000 vehicles in 2018, by tooling up factoring. Incidentally, the production will be two years ahead of schedule.
Industry consultants and supplier executives are of the opinion that the accelerated high volume launch of the Model 3, could be difficult to implement and more importantly, is likely to come at a significant cost.
When asked to respond on whether Tesla’s target is realistic and achievable, Ito replied, “We just don’t want to be a bottleneck”. Regarding the risks of being heavily involved in Tesla’s aggressive production plans, Ito said Panasonic “hopes to play a balancing act” of ensuring investment returns and filling responsibilities as a supplier.
For Panasonic, being involved with Tesla, is part of its strategic plans of withdrawing from low-margin consumer electronic products, including smartphones. Instead Panasonic wants to increasingly focus on businesses for corporate clients and on automotive components.
It plans on nearly doubling its business from automotive to 2 trillion yen ($18.2 billion) in the next three years, which represents nearly 20% of its overall sales.
In order to expand its footprint in this segment, Panasonic has acquired a 49% stake in Ficosa International SA, a Soanish manufacturer of automobile parts.
Ito has also revealed that Panasonic is likely to pursue and acquire technological assets from companies in the automotive field that it does not possess. It is likely to spend nearly 300 to 400 billion towards this end.
“There are some possible deals on the table,” said Ito.
($1 = 110.2200 yen)
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