German auto parts giant strengthens tech ties with Chinese automakers
In a press release, ZF said it is benefiting from the increasing importance of chassis technology, driven by the future trends of e-mobility, software-defined vehicles, and automated driving.
During its Chassis Tech Day, the company showcased its modular "Chassis 2.0" approach, which integrates smart actuators, system expertise, and software know-how to unlock new avenues for growth.
Peter Holdmann, member of ZF's Board of Management and head of Division Chassis Solutions, said the company is targeting 33 percent of the global chassis technology market by the end of the decade.
At the core of Chassis 2.0 is the industrialization of by-wire technologies, which have already been implemented in vehicles from Chinese brands. The NIO ET9 is the first mass-produced car in China equipped with ZF's pure steer-by-wire system.
"This is a prime example of how Chinese and German companies can leverage their respective strengths for collaborative innovation," said Zhang Hui, vice president of NIO Europe. He added that China-Germany cooperation thrives on the agility and innovation capacity of Chinese firms, paired with the engineering, safety, and industrial expertise of German manufacturers.
ZF also revealed that it has received two additional orders from Chinese automakers for its latest chassis technologies and has secured a contract with luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz.
The company has been doubling down on its investment in China, which has gone into a new R&D centre and 10 newly-built or expanded factories in the past two years. Today, nearly one-third of ZF's 161 global production sites are located in China.
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At the durian store MyBolehBoleh in KL's tourist-centric Jalan Sultan, Edison Ang is hunched over a durian. He briefly places his gloved fingers over the thorny spikes before hauling it up and sniffing it earnestly. Satisfied, he brings a cleaver down on the fruit and expertly hacks it open, revealing chambers filled with luscious, creamy Musang King. Waiting patiently by his side are Singaporean tourists Frederick Choy and Iris Foo, who are making their annual pilgrimage to KL in pursuit of the best durian. 'We have been coming here every year since he opened this shop,' enthuses Choy. In the background, another gaggle of tourists stand by, cameras at the ready. When Ang is done opening the fruit for Choy and Foo, they come closer. 'We're from China. We're so excited to meet you and try Malaysian durian,' they exclaim. Choy and Foo (left) are Singaporean tourists who make the annual trip to Ang's durian store MyBolehBoleh every year in pursuit of good durian. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star The devilishly handsome Ang flashes them a wide, disarming smile. Over the past three years, Ang has produced an endless stream of social media content dedicated to educating consumers in China about Malaysian durian. He now has over two million followers from China on his Chinese social media accounts like Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Weibo and WeChat. In Malaysia, his Facebook, TikTok and Instagram fans total over one million. And if Chinese denizens like the ones gathered at his shop are enthusiastic about trying Malaysian durian, then he has done his job well. 'Sometimes my followers have said, 'I came here because I wanted to eat durian after watching your videos.' So this is the one thing I like to hear the most because it is proof that my hard work actually brings results and has influenced some of my China audience to come to Malaysia,' he says. But for Ang, this is just the first step in his single-handed determination to help grow and expand the Malaysian durian industry and turn it into an international powerhouse. Getting started Ang grew up in Alor Setar, Kedah. His father owned a souvenir shop, and the enterprising Ang learnt the ropes early when he started selling freeze-dried durian to local souvenir shops when he was in university. But otherwise, he had no real knowledge of durian. Six years ago, Ang got his start in influencing when he started posting funny videos on TikTok in 2019 and quickly gained over 500,000 followers. But soon he felt that what he was doing held no meaning. 'Since I was small, I have been involved in the tourism industry. I always felt like I wanted to do something to boost Malaysian exposure around the world, especially in China. So I decided to switch all my accounts and start from zero again on Chinese social media platforms like Douyin,' says Ang. Ang started producing videos on Malaysian durian for his China followers in 2023 in a bid to educate them about local durian. — Edison Ang/Instagram Ang's presence grew online off the back of his Malaysian-centric videos, and his Chinese accounts gained over one million followers one year later. In 2021 Ang did a live stream for the first time, selling Malaysian products like white coffee and durian and made over CNY600,000 (over RM355,000) in sales in two hours. To him, the big surprise was that over half the sales came from Malaysian durian. So in early 2023, he decided to pivot and refocus his content entirely on Malaysian durian. The durian messenger Since 2023, Ang estimates that he has visited well over 300 durian farms across Malaysia as well as in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Each visit is inevitably a hunt for new content, but inadvertently, Ang has also learnt so much about durian himself and has been able to teach his followers from China everything he has sussed out about Malaysian durian and help change preconceived notions they have formed about it. These preconceptions were partially initiated by the fact that in China, Thai durians have held court for over 10 years and many Chinese are used to these durians as opposed to Malaysian durian, which is more expensive and lesser-known. To develop his content and learn more about Malaysian durian, Ang has visited over 300 durian farms in Malaysia and the region. — Edison Ang/Instagram 'The durian eating culture in China was started about 14 or 15 years ago with the Thai montong durian, whereas Malaysian durian has only gained prominence in China in the past five or six years. So in China, the durian eating behaviour is similar to that in Thailand. 'In Thailand, durian is harvested when it is only 70% to 80% ripe and then they export it to China. So the aroma isn't as prominent and the taste of the durian is firmer – almost crunchy, rather than smooth and creamy like the Malaysian durian. 'Also when Malaysian durian was first introduced to the China market, the first complaint was, 'Why is it so expensive?' Because Malaysian Musang King is about four to five times the price of Thai montong. It's only when people from China eat the Malaysian durian that they realise how much tastier it is,' says Ang. In one of his first durian-centric videos in 2023, Ang went to great lengths to explain to his fan base from China that the key point of differentiation with Malaysian durian is that it is harvested when ripe – specifically, when the durian falls from the tree. 'It was hard for Chinese consumers to understand this concept at first. Also, they had never seen a real durian tree before, so I went to a lot of durian farms to do videos and live streams because people from China were so curious about what durian trees actually looked like. 'In Chinese social media content, the live streamers use fake trees and hang durian from them, so most Chinese had never seen real durian trees before!' explains Ang, laughing. Still, despite the dent he has made in consumers' perspectives in China, Ang says he still has a lot of work to do because he believes that 90% of Chinese consumers still stick to Thai durian, driven by lower prices and the fact that Malaysian durian penetration hasn't yet reached smaller cities in China. A retail presence When his videos started gaining traction, Ang realised that he was limited by the fact that his presence was entirely online. He was telling people about durians, but he himself didn't have anything to show in terms of the final product. Which is why in July 2023, he decided to go full-on into the durian business. In August 2023, he set up his physical durian shop MyBolehBoleh in Kuala Lumpur. In the same year, he also started a durian export business, setting up an office in the Guangdong province in China and working with a factory in Malaysia that helps him process durian for the China market. 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But I found that sometimes what I promised to my customers couldn't be fulfilled. 'So this forced me to change a lot of factories – in these three years I've used three factories. But luckily, I found a new partner factory that can really support me this year, so since then, everything has gotten better,' he says. Ang's store mostly sells premium durian from single-origin old farms that Ang himself has visited or dealt with. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star With MyBolehBoleh, Ang says he was driven to open a physical outlet because so many of his followers from China kept asking him where to go to eat good durian on their trips to Malaysia. This coincided with a surge in China tourists to Malaysia in 2023, a nearly 600% increase from 2022. 'A lot of my followers from China who travel to Malaysia will always ask me, 'Where can I eat durian in Malaysia?' And I always recommended that they go to SS2 in Petaling Jaya. 'Then I thought, if I had so many followers that wanted to eat durian, why don't I own my own store and ask my followers to come here? So the first intention was to own this store and ensure customers get good Malaysian durian,' he says. Ang's followers travel from all over China and Malaysia to try the durian at his shop and meet him too, as he's something of a celebrity. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star At MyBolehBoleh, Ang readily confesses that his durian is priced higher than many other stores. This is because he works directly with a network of farms and picks more established single-origin farms that would typically have higher-quality yields. 'We guarantee that our durian is from old farms – in fact, for many of these durian, our staff drive to the farm to collect it directly. And the second thing is we will open the durian in front of you, and if you find that it's not tasty, we can just change it for you. Because we charge more, we have the profit margin to do this extra service for customers. 'For me, I don't want to lower the prices and serve substandard durian. I am happy selling a few hundred kilos of durian a day while giving customers a better experience,' he says. The future Unlike many influential figures, Ang isn't just here to make money and rest on his laurels. He really, really cares about the future of Malaysian durian. Aside from organising the newly minted KL Durian Festival, he also hopes to establish a durian cultural centre in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. 'I find that a lot of tourists come to Malaysia and just eat durian. But I think that durian has a bigger story to tell than the mere act of consumption. So I want to collaborate with government agencies and have a space to showcase Malaysian durian culture so people can learn about durian trees, fruiting season and the farmers behind the fruits,' he says. If you think that's all Ang has in mind, you would be oh-so wrong. Because Edison Ang is truly an unstoppable durian juggernaut. His five-year timeline? He wants to establish a durian university! In the future, Ang hopes to establish a durian university where people can train to become professional durian tasters. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star 'I think it will be very hard to improve the durian industry if we don't have enough skilled farmers and workers trained at a proper university. Like now, the grading of the fruit is not consistent. The farmer might say it's grade A, but someone else will say it's grade B. It's a perennial issue. 'And the second thing is I think a durian university can train durian tasters. Like sommeliers for wine or baristas for coffee, we should have something in place to establish durian experts too,' says Ang, smiling.
