Koito Manufacturing, the Tokyo-listed automotive lighting maker, has decided to begin dissolving and liquidating its wholly owned Chinese subsidiary in Hubei province. Its board resolved on the step on 28 September 2026, and the company announced it on 20 October in a notice on the dissolution and liquidation of a consolidated subsidiary.
The third unit of three
Koito had run its China business through three companies, aimed at expanding automotive lighting in the Chinese market. Besides the Hubei company, there is a Guangzhou unit and a Fuzhou unit. The Fuzhou company was dissolved in April 2025. In March 2026 Koito moved production of marker lamps to the Guangzhou company.
The Hubei closure follows those steps. If the liquidation completes, Koito's China operations would rest on the Guangzhou company alone, a reading that follows from the notice's description of three companies and two exits.
Why Koito says it is closing
Koito attributes the decision to a market that has changed quickly and substantially. The notice lists the rapid spread of electric vehicles, the rise of Chinese local carmakers, and slowing sales and falling share at Japanese carmakers, which it calls its main customers. It says its China business has stayed in a difficult position.
Koito says it pursued every available streamlining and improvement measure, but that further sales weakness at Japanese carmakers and the effects of the Middle East situation made conditions harder. Dissolving the Hubei company, it concluded, is appropriate to improve group productivity and profitability and strengthen competitiveness by concentrating resources.
The subsidiary and the numbers
The Hubei company makes and sells automotive lighting. It sits in the Xiaogan National Hi-Tech Development Zone in Xiaogan City. It was established in September 2014, has capital of ¥5bn and is 100% owned by Koito. The notice lists a general manager as its representative.
Koito says the effect on consolidated results for the year to March 2027 will be minor. The notice gives no cost estimate, no headcount and no figure for assets to be written off.
What is still open
Liquidation will finish once procedures under local law are complete, and the notice says the schedule is undecided. Koito says it will handle the effect on employees and the local community with care, in line with laws and labour agreements, and will disclose promptly anything further that requires it.