NANTES, France—Auto supplier Faurecia has created a new division to develop and manufacture sustainable and smart materials.
Both its interiors and seating businesses had previously launched initiatives to promote the development of sustainable material innovations within these groups.
The new division will now collaborate across business divisions, using its worldwide reach to build on the company's strong market position in vehicle interiors and seats, with its portfolio of materials with ultra-low and negative CO2 emissions to support automakers' sustainability goals.
Faurecia will capitalize on its "decades of experience in the development of bio-sourced materials," CEO Patrick Koller said, to increase its contribution to the fight against climate change by investing significantly in the development of materials with very low CO2 footprints.
"This new innovative division, together with a best-in-class industrial and academic ecosystem, will help us achieve sales targets of 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) by 2030 in this field, foster sustainable growth, and support efforts to meet our 2030 CO2 reduction commitments," he added.
The company intends to construct a dedicated sustainable materials research and development center as well as a pilot plant, both of which will be operational in 2022. The new division will start with 125 engineers and grow to more than 400 by 2030.