JATO - Focus on Asia

The automotive heat is on in Asia and particularly in China. With teams of experienced local managers and staff based in the Asia-Pacific markets for many years, JATO has always been well-placed to provide close support to its Pacific rim customers.

But latest industry developments and market sales numbers underline an eastward swing of the manufacturing spotlight, increasingly away from the Americas across Europe and focusing in Asia, particularly in China.

As Chinese manufacturers (and their joint-venture partners) thrive, rationalize and strengthen their component supplier base via locally-situated Western OEM “implants”, the demands on JATO’s Chinese operation are growing quickly. JATO has responded with a specific action plan to strengthen further its presence in the Asia-Pacific region – the first step in this plan is already executed in the transfer of Nasir Ali Shah, JATO’s former Director of Business Development, to Shanghai, where he takes on the role of Director of Asia-Pacific Operations.

Shah’s responsibility extends across Asia to Australasia but his particular focus is on the developing Chinese market and the re-alignment of JATO’s operations to achieve a new and simplified structure with its legal base in Shanghai. The new company, “JATO (Shanghai) Consulting Company Limited” has already been established and actions are underway to underscore a high level of necessary autonomy and flexibility for Shah’s Asian teams.

Shah comments on the changes: “JATO faces a spectacular paradigm shift in its Asian activities, with a new type of state-sponsored customer in China which is faster-moving and more demanding than anything the automotive industry has so far seen. In particular, export aspirations are making JATO’s detailed European and Americas data hot property for multiple potential exporting brands across China. This is like all of Asia’s established manufacturers in Japan and Korea setting out their stall for Western markets at the same time – a massive and sudden pressure on JATO’s resources. We’re setting up ready to meet this challenge and deliver JATO’s usual exceptional quality of product and service at a local level.”

Further information and support from JATO’s Asian operation can be directed to:

JATO China (Shanghai)
31/F Jin Mao Tower
88 Shi Ji Avenue
Pudong
Shanghai 200120
PR China
Tel: +86 21 2890 9673
Email: china.enquiries@jato.com