DRiV sets up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Yangpu district, Shanghai. Representatives from both sides attend the opening ceremony on Dec 6, 2019. [Photo/WeChat account: scofcom]

US auto parts manufacturer DRiV held an opening ceremony for its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai's Yangpu district on Dec 6. Zhao Liang, deputy director of Yangpu district, together with Sean Stein, US consul general in Shanghai, DRiV's CEO Brian Kesseler and its Asia-Pacific president, Jay Kunkel, attended the event.

DRiV was established by Tenneco, a world-leading automobile component manufacturer from the United States, in 2018. It has two major businesses: develop, manufacture and distribute a wide range of products in the global automobile aftermarket, including shock absorbers and struts, steering and suspension, braking, sealing, engines, emissions and maintenance; develop, manufacture and provide cutting-edge shock absorbers, NVH (Noise & Vibration & Harshness) high-performance materials and brake pads for global original equipment manufacturers.

Kesseler said that DRiV would have a market scale of over $6 billion in the near future, becoming the largest aftermarket supplier with many product lines and brands all over the world. DRiV regards China as an important global business growth engine and has invested significantly in the country. Setting up the Asia-Pacific headquarters in Yangpu embodies DRiV's determination to settle in China and will bring more investment to the country in coming years.

DRiV and Yangpu had vast potential for cooperation. Yangpu's abundant resources in science and education can provide strong talent and research support for scientific innovation enterprises. And DRiV's settling in Yangpu made the booming automobile industry chain more complete. Yangpu would provide a better business environment and higher quality services for the enterprises based there, said Zhao Liang.

In recent years, the export-oriented economy of Yangpu has been booming, the internationalization level has significantly increased, and the number of regional headquarters of transnational corporations and research and development centers has also increased. The amount of contractual and actual foreign capital both reached new highs, with the growth rate ranking top in the city.