Q&A: How a global parts supplier sees China's rising role in autos
Major global automotive supplier Magna International's CEO says the Canadian-headquartered company wants to build its relationship with China's intensely competitive automakers.
After speaking to the Automotive Press Association and the Society of Automotive Analysts last week at the company's Troy, Michigan, site, CEO Swamy Kotagiri sat down with The Detroit News. He dove deeper into global trade policy and Magna's partnerships with China, including the recent contract to build XPENG vehicles at the company's Graz, Austria, hub.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: On the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, what concerns do you have about those renegotiations, and are you worried about Canada being left out of those initial talks?
Answer: We haven't paid that much attention on foreign policies. That's why I said, obviously, USMCA, in its current state, is how the ecosystem was built. So, if it stays, then it's frictionless, life goes on. But I understand these trade policies have higher implications of national priorities and other trade, and so on and so forth, and automotive is just one.
As far as there is visibility on what the policy is, and there is certainty that that's the policy, I think the industry will adapt. Is it going to cause some reshifting or reallocation of the thinking and the strategy? Yes, but it's going to be industrywide. We have to really align ourselves to the overall strategy of the (automakers), because at the end of the day we are supplying to the (automaker) assembly plants. So that's what is going to really drive our strategy.
Q: Do you see a potential where Magna is assembling Chinese cars in Canada, and do you have any excess production capacity in Canada?
A: A couple things: We usually don't have excess capacity, because the way we build is based on what is the market (and) how we have done. And if you're building a facility, usually it has a long-term connotation of a path and market, and so on and so forth. So that's one. The second thing is we don't assemble cars anywhere in North America. And like I said, for us to consider assembling for any (automaker), it has to be really long term, because it's a different type of business, and we have said that for the last 10 years as far as I know. We will be open, obviously, to any (automaker), you know, where they're looking at a value proposition that makes sense. But it has to be a really long term, and we will not do that on a one-program, one-customer basis.
Q: I wanted to hear about how the XPENG, how that partnership is going so far.
A: It's a normal commercial relationship, like we have with other customers. We produce cars for, we still do for Mercedes: the G-Wagon. We've done it for Jaguar and BMW. These terms are no different. So it's a supply commercial agreement, and we are doing four models there right now. It's assembly (semi-knocked down), as they call it. Parts coming from all over, and we assemble them there. And as we see that localization coming into play, we see that as a possible further opportunity for other parts of Magna. But the programs are going well.
Q: You had mentioned when China goes global, you have hopes of really partnering with them and kind of meeting them as they're expanding. I'm curious about your expectations for Chinese (automakers') global growth moving forward.
A: We see Chinese (automakers) coming into Europe. We supply in Europe for BMW, Mercedes and the others. When they came over to North America, we continue to bring content in North America for their North American assembly plants. So we see the market where the Chinese are talking about doing things they're doing in Europe ... in South America, where we already have a footprint. We are going to support the ecosystem. They know us now. We produce for them in China, so we know their systems. We've been working with them, so we believe that's going to be an edge for us to continue doing that elsewhere, wherever they decide.
Q: Because the Chinese OEMs are so hyper-focused on these EVs, and in the United States, obviously, there's been some ups and downs with that, I'm wondering how you see U.S. (automakers) competing with China on EVs technology-wise, moving forward.
A: Some of this is very different in different regions of the world. I always like to look at when you went back to the communication industry, you had the analog and the digital, and the countries that did not have that framework went directly to digital. I believe China is the same in automotive. The Western (automakers) have the brand. They have the customer relationships. The segments of the vehicles (and) the consumer demands are a little different here. The industry overall is evolving, and it has in the past. Yes, there is a little bit of, call it anxiety, right now. But I think it'll change.
Q: Magna would have a little bit of a leg up too, if you're partnering with the Chinese (automakers) and you're getting some of the knowledge on how they're working, you can apply that more broadly.
A: Yes, definitely. And not only just learning their risk appetite, their development cycle, their specifications, and so on and so forth. As far as it is a learning of the process and it's not confidential, absolutely, yeah.
Q: I've spoken to some other auto analysts. I guess I would say they have emphasized that that is what the U.S. needs to do: get the get the information on how Chinese (automakers) are able to move so quickly in terms of production, and that's really what we're missing out on here.
A: You're right. Development cycle, the speed of learning, and the humility to say I don't know what I don't know. And they're executing at a very fast pace, but there is a little bit of not having a legacy. So when they're building systems, the interfaces (and) the integration, they don't have to contend with what's already there. But we should not take that as an excuse. I'm not saying that. But just getting through that, we are starting to see that thinking of integrating more systems together (and) thinking ahead of time. So it'll come.
Q:Last question: what kind of impact do you see the Gordie Howe Bridge opening on Magna?
A: Honestly, that's surprising. That's the second time I've been asked. If it helps logistics, it does, right? But other than that, we have not really seen a bottleneck anywhere. But the fact that you have this additional pathway should only help and ease the logistics and material movement. But we have not really seen anything up or down.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 3:36 PM.