On August 31st, the AUCA Automotive Club successfully organized a company visit, leading 30 alumni from overseas universities to tour the Magna China headquarters located in the Hongqiao area of Shanghai. This event was strongly supported by the China office of Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, aiming to promote communication and cooperation among alumni from overseas universities and to gain an in-depth understanding of the latest developments in the automotive industry.

 

   

 

The event attracted alumni from various overseas universities, including Arizona State University, Washington University in St. Louis, The Ohio State University, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The event was hosted by William Zhu, China Manager of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, who first expressed his gratitude to Todd Fortner, a 1993 Thunderbird alumnus and Vice President Operations Exteriors Asia, Magna, for his arrangements and hospitality. Magna International is one of the largest automotive parts manufacturers in the world. As a Fortune 500 company, Magna employs nearly 200,000 people globally. In China alone, Magna has over 50 factories supplying parts to various automakers. Thanks to Magna and Todd, alumni working in the automotive industry had the opportunity to visit this automotive parts giant and learn about its business story.

 

 

Todd provided a detailed introduction to the company’s history, China strategy, and future development plans, giving everyone a deep understanding of Magna’s leading position in the automotive parts manufacturing field. As a witness and participant in the development of China’s automotive industry, Todd’s connections and stories with China were equally impressive. His profound insights into the global and Chinese automotive industries greatly benefited the attendees and sparked active discussions and exchanges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the second half of the event, alumnus Xia Yu from Washington University in St. Louis also represented NIO to share the development trends of the automotive industry combined with artificial intelligence. The rapid iteration of the automotive industry is astonishing, and thanks to the experts in the automotive industry, we learned a lot of new knowledge.

 

 

Let’s look forward to the next exciting event of the AUCA Automotive Club!

 

How to join AUCA Automotive Club