An exterior view of the Taizhou Valeo Wenling Automotive System. [Photo/WeChat account: wenlingfabu]

Taizhou Valeo Wenling Automotive System, a company based in Wenling, a county-level city in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province, is set to begin production at its new facility in mid-November after more than a year of preparation and construction.

The plant, operated by Valeo — a French automotive supplier headquartered in Paris — will host the company's first wiper rubber extrusion line outside France, marking a major step toward localized production and innovation.

Covering 28 mu (1.86 hectares) and totaling 19,400 square meters, the new site includes a 2,000-square-meter climate-controlled workshop to house the extrusion line, along with new lines for rear wiper motors and camera cleaning systems.

The extrusion process, a core technology of Valeo, offers higher efficiency and lower costs than traditional molding methods. Achieving local production of wiper rubber took 10 years of technical preparation and talent development, culminating in 2023 when Valeo Wenling secured approval to host the new line amid rising global demand.

Beyond wipers, the company is expanding into electric and smart vehicle systems, with the Wenling plant to become Valeo's global base for such products. For Valeo, Wenling has been more than an investment destination — it has been an innovation partner for 30 years.