BASF to launch digital platform for automotive coatings in China

BASF and one of the leading automotive manufacturers in China, Guangzhou Automobile Group New Energy Co. Ltd. (GACNE), a subsidiary of GAC, has signed a cooperation agreement in Guangzhou, China, to further strengthen their strategic partnership to explore digital coatings solutions for the automotive industry. Launched in China for the first time, the new platform will support paint shops to improve quality and enhance efficiency.

Under this cooperation agreement, BASF will provide a digital platform that enables GACNE to digitalize and integrate initially scattered data, and to measure its data readiness and maturity through data analysis.

Patrick Zhao (left), Senior Vice President, BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific and Xi Zhongmin (right), Vice General Manager of GACNE sign the cooperation agreement to extend partnership between BASF and GACNE.

“With this collaboration, we not only create a new customer experience for GACNE, but also grow our mutual business through new business models and eventually enhance our overall competitiveness and efficiency,” said Patrick Zhao, Senior Vice President, BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific.

BASF’s digital platform will be customized to focus on improvement of GACNE’s paint shop operations and decision making with more efficient ways of data reporting, processing and analyzing. BASF experts have provided training sessions to GACNE’s users of the platform. Further modules and solutions can be added and customized based on GACNE’s feedback and evolving digital needs.

“BASF has been GACNE’s trusted partner since 2018, and we are the first OEM to utilize total-layer coating solution from BASF. I look forward to further cooperation in new technologies and other digital solutions between the two companies,” said Xi Zhongmin, Vice General Manager of GACNE.

Since starting the collaboration, BASF has supported GACNE to launch its paint shop and provided technical expertise, including comprehensive color development and paint shop management. BASF has become the 100% coating supplier of GACNE since then, including e-coat, primer, basecoat and clear coat. The portfolio also includes digital solutions for quality and efficiency improvement of the whole coating process, based on the automotive industry’s challenges and digital needs.