GKN Driveline, the world’s leading manufacturer of automotive driveline components, has announced that it is establishing a new manufacturing facility for Constant Velocity Joint (CVJ) Systems and Trans Axle Solutions in Pune, India. The company is investing Rs. 130 crore (£18 million) in the new 8,000 square-metre greenfield facility, which will be fully operational in August 2012. The unit will employ more than 200 people and will have an annual production capacity of more than 600,000 CVJ Systems. The new facility will also manufacture differentials from GKN Driveline's Trans Axle Solutions product range.
The facility is strategically located within 30 kilometres of a number of GKN Driveline customers including Fiat, Volkswagen, General Motors, Tata and Renault.
"This new facility positions GKN Driveline strongly to meet the continued rapid growth of India’s automotive industry," said Marc Vuarchex, managing director, GKN Driveline Asia Pacific. "It is the next step in our mission to remain close and accessible to our customers in west India."
Ravindra Ojha, Managing Director of GKN Driveline in India said, "The company's business in India has grown at an annual rate of more than 15pc over the past five years and we expect India to remain a high growth market for years to come."
Recognising the potential growth of the Indian automotive market in the early 1980s, GKN Driveline was the first company in India to manufacture sideshafts for front-wheel-drive vehicles. The company currently employs 800 people at three factories in India: Faridabad and Dharuhera, near Delhi in the north and Oragadam, near Chennai, in the south.
In 2008, GKN Driveline opened, with an initial investment of Rs. 100 crore (£ 12 million), a plant in Oragadam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu which is supplying auto manufacturers in south India with 1.6 million CVJ Systems. The 10,000 square-metre manufacturing facility employs more than 250 people.
In 2008, GKN Driveline , with an initial investment of INR100 crore (£12 million), a plant in Oragadam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu which is supplying auto manufacturers in south India with 1.6 million CVJ Systems. The 10,000 square-metre manufacturing facility employs more than 250 people.
GKN plc is a global engineering business serving mainly the automotive, aerospace and land systems markets. It has operations in more than 30 countries, around 40,000 employees in subsidiaries and joint ventures and had sales of Rs. 39,400 crore (£5.4 billion) in the year to 31 December 2010.