The Spanish carwashbuilder Istobal drives its international expansion plan and starts production in China a year after starting its exports to this country. The production is situated about 80 kilometers from Shanghai, sales offices for Istobal are located in this city. 

The new production facility for Istobal in China counts 10.000 square meters. Here the supply for the Chinese market is assembled. Istobal plans to increase its turnover in China by 50 per cent this year. The Spanish Group collaborates with Sinopec, one of the country’s leading oil companies, which already has sixty Istobal machines in its network of service stations. They plan to open 30 more locations this year, both with rollovers and tunnels.

The Istobal Group now has ten subsidiaries worldwide, located in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, USA, Brazil and China. The main manufacturing facility is in Spain. Brazil, the US and China hold final assembly plants.

Growing market

Istobal starts production in China a year after starting its exports to this country in order to maintain a more direct business relationship with its customers and to enhance its growth. China is a growing market for technological car wash equipment for the automotive sector and is key to the strategic growth plan of the Spanish group.

Rafael Tomas is CEO of Istobal. He says China represents one of the areas with the greatest growth potential for the group, together with the USA, Italy and Poland. “China now has 1.4 billion inhabitants, 270 million cars and the car wash sector is relatively new. Demand has started to grow in the past three to five years. This market is already demanding equipment with more technology and reliability. Istobal is therefore established as a provider of innovative 360° solutions for the car wash and car care sector in China.”

China is just the first step in Asia, Istobal hopes to expand to other Asian countries, both for the service stations and private wash facilities sector, as well as for car dealerships, car workshops, transport companies, department stores, car rental companies, public transport companies and other entities that manage vehicle fleets. The subsidiary already has several distributors and aims to cover the country’s main provinces, both through distribution contracts and direct service.

Key wash solutions for the Chinese market include automatic rollovers, automatic wash tunnels and commercial vehicle wash equipment.

Also read: 

• Istobal acquires its distributor Pacific Pride car wash company 
• Istobal launches free use of Smartwash
• Istobal develops new line for sanitation of commercial vehicles