The company took home the award in the “Sistemista” (“System Supplier”) category - which includes the best system suppliers to carmakers – for the development of the FreeChoice automated transmission and the introduction of LED rear lights on the Brazilian market.

The award ceremony was held in Sao Paulo in the presence of leading representatives of the Brazilian automotive sector.

In Brazil, AutoData is one of the most important awards in the sector, and every year it showcases the best carmakers and suppliers in the categories of technological innovation, sustainability, and marketing strategy. The award is sponsored by AutoData Editora, a communication company specialized in the automotive sector that, in addition to its online news agency, also publishes various magazines, including the monthly AutoData, one of the most authoritative and influential publications in Brazil’s automotive industry.

Since 2003, Magneti Marelli has won the AutoData award in various categories: in 2007, 2009 and 2011 as “System Supplier”. In 2010, it won the award in the “Sustainability” category, and in 2008 as “Supplier of Parts and Component”. Thanks to its technologies, Magneti Marelli won the award in the “Technological Innovation” category for four years in a row, from 2003 to 2006.

This year, Magneti Marelli won the sought-after prize for two main reasons. The first one concerns the doubling, by the end of 2012, of the production capacity for the FreeChoice automated transmission in Hortolandia (Sao Paulo). Thanks to the significant growth in volumes posted in recent years, the production line reached its maximum capacity in 2010. FreeChoice (or AMT, Automated Manual Transmission) is an electro-hydraulic technology used to automate the manual transmission and derived from Formula 1, that combines driver comfort and lower fuel consumption.

The second reason concerns the introduction of LED lighting on the Brazilian market. This technology has been included in Magneti Marelli’s global products portfolio for quite some time now but it was adapted for the first time and successfully applied in Brazil for the rear lights on the Fiat Idea, requiring a new production line to be built in the plant located in Contagem (MG).

Magneti Marelli has been operating in Brazil since 1978, and it currently employs about eight thousand workers. It has 13 production plants and five R&D Centres located in Minas Gerais (Contagem, Itaúna and Lavras) and San Paolo (Amparo, Hortolândia, Mauá, Santo André and São Bernardo), in addition to commercial facilities for the aftermarket in Brazil’s main cities (Curitiba, Goiânia, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo). In 2010 Magneti Marelli Brazil saw a 12% increase in the turnover compared to the previous year, for a total turnover of 2.4 billion R$ (approximately 1 billion Euros).