Chinese ties strengthen for Manganese Bronze

BLACK cab manufacturer Manganese Bronze has said its relationship with Chinese joint venture partner Geely Automobile Holdings continue to be productive.

The Coventry firm said the Shanghai LTI Automobile Components Company Ltd (SLTI) operation offered the company the best chance for long-term growth.

Manganese, through its subsidiary London Taxis International, is assigning expert staff to China to support the SLTI management team on a series of planned projects designed to improve quality and supply chain performance.

They will also deal with the challenges posed by increasing build volumes at the Shanghai facility.

The group said it was also continuing to collaborate with Geely senior management on the launch of the TXN, the saloon car based-taxi scheduled to go on sale in 2013. Other business development opportunities are also under discussion.

“The longer term business opportunities with Geely, including the new saloon car taxi, the TXN, and the potential appointment of the group to be Geely’s distributor in Europe, could significantly improve the prospects for the group and the continuing positive relationship with Geely is the foundation for joint exploitation of those opportunities,” said Manganese Bronze in an interims statement.

The company said yesterday that international sales had been strong and had helped to offset poorer-than-expected sales in the UK.

It has also said that the restructuring of the group, which has included switching production to lower cost factories in China, is likely to lead to improving margins in the year ahead.

UK sales in the four months to April 30 included the remaining 108 vehicles built prior to the production shift and as such, margins on the vehicles were lower.

The latest TX4 variant, launched in November last year, is likely to yield higher margins for the group during the remainder of 201, leading to hopes that the group will return to profits.

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