Lear opens Asia headquarters in Shanghai

SHANGHAI -- Lear Corp. opened its new Asian headquarters and regional technical center on Wednesday here to support its fast-growing business in the region.The headquarters will support 21,000 employees in 11 countries, including almost 11,000 in China, Lear said.Lear, of suburban Detroit, produces seats and electrical distribution systems. The Shanghai facility will support r&d for both product groups.Lear has 60 factories and 10 technical centers in Asia. Of those facilities, 36 plants and two engineering centers are in China.Asia is Lear's fastest growing region, with sales of $4.5 billion (27.61 billion yuan) last year.Over the past three years, Lear's sales in China have grown at an average annual rate of 24 percent, according to Lear CEO Matt Simoncini.He expects his company's China sales to maintain more than 20 percent growth over the next few years.