CHAKAN – Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz Limited, a joint venture between Hayes Lemmerz International Inc and the automotive component supplier Kalyani Group, has opened its new passenger car wheel plant in Chakan . The greenfield facility, which has been established at an investment of Rs. 70 crore (15.31 million U.S. dollars), will have an initial installed capacity to produce 20 lakh wheel rims a year (scalable to 40 lakh wheel rims annually at around Rs. 55 to 60 crore additionally. The plant also has a paint shop, which has a capacity of 40 lakh wheel rims.
Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz has developed passenger car wheels for the domestic programs of Punto and Linea by FIAT, Polo by VW India, and Sumo by Tata Motors. The company also supplies customers outside India, exporting to VW USA, VW Mexico and VW China. Moreover, some of the major passenger car manufacturers like Tata Motors, Fiat, Mahindra & Mahindra, VW India , Ford India and Renault Nissan India have already placed orders for 17 lakh wheel rims.
It may be recalled that Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz Ltd set up its first plant in India at Pune in 1996 for the production of wheel rims for commercial vehicles. Hayes Lemmerz International of the US is the majority share holder in the JV with 85 pc, while Kalyani Group holds 15 percent. The plant has an annual capacity of nearly 10 lakh wheel rims and supplies to Indian commercial vehicle manufacturers like Volvo, Mercedes Benz India, Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, Force Motors, Asia Motors, Swaraj-Mazda, Mahindra Navistar, etc. After establishing itself in the domestic sector, Kalyani Hayes Lemmerz entered into the export market by developing tubeless wheel rims for the East Asian markets, particularly Korea and Taiwan. The Company now also makes specialised wheel rims for international OEMs like Daimler as well as MAN of Germany, Volvo and Scania AB of Sweden, Daewoo Trucks of S. Korea and Iveco of Italy. The Pune-based company extended its product range from 16-inch to 24-inch wheels, and currently is the producer of the largest wheel rims (24-inch) in the Indian market. The JV firm is eyeing to ramp up the output of the commercial vehicle wheel rim production plant to around 12 lakh wheel rims per year.
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc., is the world’s largest wheel manufacturer, catering to both the steel and alloy wheel sectors. Hayes Lemmerz is headquartered in Northville, Michigan, USA and has 17 manufacturing locations worldwide. Likewise, the Kalyani Group is one of the fastest growing automotive component manufacturers in India. Bharat Forge, the world’s largest forging company, is the flagship company of The Kalyani Group.