CHENNAI: The 40 bn euro ZF Group, a global leader in driveline and chassis technology, on Tuesday, inaugurated its electric park brake (EPB) production line for its passenger car business at the Oragadam manufacturing facility, near Chennai.
With an annual production capacity of 800,000 units at peak, this milestone marks a strategic expansion of its advanced braking footprint for passenger cars in India. ZF’s EPB systems are already being supplied to leading Indian OEMs and are integrated in recently launched all-electric passenger vehicles.
Akash Passey, president, ZF Group India, in response to a query on localisation, said 40 per cent of the EPB components are sourced locally with the company planning to increase it by around 80-90 per cent over the next two years. “This localisation effort advances ZF’s ‘Make in India for India and the World’ strategy. This is a start of our growth story in India for serving domestic OEM demand while strengthening India’s role as a global supply hub for advanced braking systems.”
On investments, he said the new line is part of ZF’s already announced investment of $200$250 million in India.
Passey also said all the businesses on automotive side are growing with regulatory mechanism of India also supporting it. OEMs are investing heavily on safety and quality systems, even as they seek new solutions not only for electric but also for ICE. Therefore, ZF is emerging as a logical contact point to service the customers, he sought to point out.
Peter Holdmann, Board of Management member at ZF and head of Division Chassis Solutions, said “India is the new China” as he pointed out to the rapid growth seen especially on the back of infrastructure development. Lauding the talent pool available in India, Holdmann said engineering for markets are being done out of this country too to support the demand from customers. This is backed by its tech centres in Hyderabad and Chennai for passenger and commercial vehicle solutions.
Andreas Moser, Member of the Board of Management for the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions and the India Region, said “The future of mobility is being built in places that combine scale with innovation, and India is a key growth market.”
To a query, Moser said ZF is looking at bringing its advanced driver assistance systems to India.
The Oragadam multi-divisional facility is central to ZF’s India growth roadmap. As ZF’s key manufacturing site in India and 10th in TN, this site is an expansion plant for light commercial vehicles of the ZF Group in India. Globally, ZF has deployed over 250 million EPB callipers across vehicles.