Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) has appointed Mathias Hüttenrauch as its first European CEO as the Chinese battery maker expands in the region.
Hüttenrauch has worked in the automotive industry in Europe and Asia for many decades. He led Dutch supplier Nedschroef’s expansion into China. He was also head of the automotive division at Germany's Benteler Group.
CATL, the world’s biggest maker of electric-vehicle batteries, has started production at its first European factory near Erfurt, Germany.
The supplier counts Audi, BMW, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Stellantis, Volkswagen and Volvo among its European customers.
Construction of a second European plant in Hungary, set to be the continent's largest at 100 GWh, should start in the second half. CATL is also mulling a third plant in Europe.
Hüttenrauch also succeeds Matthias Zentgraf as chairman of the board of Contemporary Amperex Technology Thuringia, the company’s battery plant in Germany. Zentgraf is remaining at CATL as a consultant.
There are currently 1,000 employees working on series production at the German plant. CATL is investing up to 1.8 billion euros ($1.96 billion) at the site and plans to create 2,000 jobs.
