Chennai's Automotive and Auto Components Industry Updates!

[Raji7373]

Our power situation is worse, so what is the point in bringing industries wihout power First let TN Govt work out some measures to come out of cirisis...

[ranga]

Originally Posted by Subra

Relax guys. The company has not disclosed any thing till now. It was a French delegation that is going to various parts of the country. I still hope Chennai would win the project based on the auto ecosystem and since they have a sourcing office here. The recent labor issues might come in the way.

labour issues and trade uninons assertions are now a phenomenon throughout India.

[MyNation]

http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/01/stor...0159250400.htm

CHENNAI: The Cabinet on Saturday cleared two projects, envisaging an investment of Rs.5,600 crore, for production of radial tyres.
While one approval pertained to the project proposed by French company Michelin for setting up a facility in Thiruvallur district at a cost of Rs.4,000 crore, another related to the increase in investment by Apollo Tyres from Rs.500 crore to Rs.2,100 crore for its plant at Oragadam in Kancheepuram district.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi chaired the meeting.

The execution of the two projects would reinforce the position of Chennai as a leading automobile hub, according to an official of the Industries Department.

In the case of Apollo Tyres, commercial production was expected in six months. In two years, the enhanced quantum of investment would be made. Of the original approval for Rs.500 crore, the company, till now, had invested around Rs.300 crore. As for the French company, the rollout of the first lot of tyres would be in two years, the official said. The Cabinet also discussed the transfer of land in Melkottaiyur and Nallambakkam villages in Kancheepuram for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing. At the beginning of the meeting, A. Mohanakrishnan, Chairman of the Cauvery Technical Cell, submitted to Mr. Karunanidhi a report on the feasibility of the proposed Athikadavu-Avinashi flood flow canal scheme in the Bhavani river basin. The announcement regarding the constitution of an expert committee on the subject was made in the State budget in February, in response to the long-pending request of farmers of Coimbatore and Erode districts.

The committee explored the possibility of diverting flood flow to Avinashi, a dry pocket, for irrigation.

[bonoslack7]

After the state cabinet cleared the concession packages for the world’s second largest tyre manufacturer Michelin to set up a Rs 4,000 crore facility at Thervaikandikai near Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district, few more major tyre manufacturers are likely to set up shop here.
According to sources in government, Japanese tyre major Bridgestone is in advanced talks to clinch a deal to have its facility near Michelin’s factory.
Bridgestone has been negotiating with officials of the industry department for over six months now, sources said.
Sipcot has already acquired over 1000 acres in the Gummidipoondi area to promote automotive industry on an expansion drive in the city’s suburbs. While Michelin, the French company, would require 290 acres, officials said that Bridgestone has sought 100 acres of land.
After the cabinet cleared the proposal of the Apollo Tyres to increase its investment at Oragadam plant from Rs 500 to Rs 2,100 crore granting the company further concessions, officials confirmed that the government was in the final stages of finalising investment from J K Tyres, Hidromas and Bharat Forge worth over Rs 2000 crore.

[tokavin]

source please...

[tokavin]

But i am very worried about peugeot . Even if AP somehow manages to get Peugeot ( yeah by doing miracles) it should be located at TADA. Atleast TN can make few bucks out of it.

[ezhilan81]

Will they now call Chennai as the Tyre Hub?? lol

[Mad 4 Madras]

Originally Posted by tokavin

But i am very worried about peugeot . Even if AP somehow manages to get Peugeot ( yeah by doing miracles) it should be located at TADA. Atleast TN can make few bucks out of it.

AP doesn't require miracles, very simple open strategies and few freebies...
We may loose Peugeot....

[tokavin]

Originally Posted by ezhilan81

Will they now call Chennai as the Tyre Hub?? lol

hehe.Happy to know that chennai is the global tyre hub. So chennai can be called as " TYRE CITY OF THE WORLD ".

@Mad4Madras . I dont think AP can offer freebies except for land.As far as i know , they are financially in trouble and Peugeot should start from the beginning as there are no or few ancillary industries in that region. So the estimate is that they can take upto 4 years to start production(minimum).This makes the project inviable as they may lose ground.

[Mad 4 Madras]

Hmmm..I see...still this time AP won't miss out. Lets wait for another two months and we'll know the status.

[Subra]

Proton's managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told local reporters that it is looking to assemble vehicles in either Mumbai or Chennai. ...

http://www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=101881

Note: This is a protected article and hence couldn't paste the full content here.

[tokavin]

Ha, another one in the kitty.

[Arasu]

This Proton has been in the news for almost a decade now. They had been in talks with AP for their manufacturing then, before giving up the idea. Not sure, how it will turn up this time around.

[tokavin]

Ya its there in the news more for more than 4 years

[tokavin]

Interview Link

Could you elaborate on sourcing from India on the auto components front?

Our carmaker Proton is looking at sourcing components from Chennai. Malaysia is promoting clean energy. We have met with electric car manufacturer Reva in Bangalore and are negotiating to see if they can have Malaysia as their manufacturing base and also sell their cars there.

What is the potential for promoting tourism between the two countries?
2008 was one of the best years for Malaysian tourism. Albeit signs of recovery now, this year has been bad and growth will be negative. But we expect to do well in 2010 with a 2-3% growth. 50% of foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia are from Singapore. Apart from Thailand and the other ASEAN countries, India, Japan and China are other countries from where we get maximum tourists.

[georgenadar]

Originally Posted by tokavin

Interview Link

Could you elaborate on sourcing from India on the auto components front?

Our carmaker Proton is looking at sourcing components from Chennai. Malaysia is promoting clean energy. We have met with electric car manufacturer Reva in Bangalore and are negotiating to see if they can have Malaysia as their manufacturing base and also sell their cars there.

What is the potential for promoting tourism between the two countries?
2008 was one of the best years for Malaysian tourism. Albeit signs of recovery now, this year has been bad and growth will be negative. But we expect to do well in 2010 with a 2-3% growth. 50% of foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia are from Singapore. Apart from Thailand and the other ASEAN countries, India, Japan and China are other countries from where we get maximum tourists.

good news...

[Subra]

http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/0418...ver-R.html?h=B

New Delhi: Niche bike maker Royal Enfield, a part of Eicher Motors Ltd, today said it will invest over Rs65 crore in the next three years to double production capacity to one lakh units.

The Chennai-based company, which has been expanding its export markets, also said it expects overseas sales to more than double over the next five years.

“We will expand production capacity to one lakh units in the next three year from the current 50,000 units at our existing plant (in Chennai),” Eicher Motors managing director and CEO Siddhartha Lal told reporters here.

Asked about investments for the expansion, he said: “We had invested Rs65 crore in the existing facility in the last five years for the current capacity and a similar amount or slightly more may be required.”

The company today launched two new bikes, Classic 350 and Classic 500, priced at Rs98,086 and Rs1.25 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) respectively, which are based on a new engine platform.

Lal said Royal Enfield is looking to increase exports of bikes to countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, besides strengthening its presence in Europe and the US.

“Our aim is for export to contribute about 10-15% of total sales in five years time,” he said, adding currently exports account for less than 5% of total sales.

This year the company expects total sales to be around 50,000 units, compared with 43,298 units last year.

Lal said future bike models from Royal Enfield will be based on the new engine platform for at least another five years, till the time it develops newer ones.

“Different motorcycles like classic sports and touring bikes can be developed on this platform. At least five to six bike will be developed,” he said.

The company had decided to phase out one of its models, Machismo and will be replaced with a new bike in the similar segment, he added.

Lal said the company has plans to move up in bigger engine categories like 800 cc and 1000 cc but not immediately.

“Our current focus is on the 350 cc bikes for the Indian market and 500 cc for the international market for the Classic range of bikes,” he said.

Stating that Royal Enfield has successfully made a turnaround in its financial performance, he said revenues in the past nine months have been over Rs300 crore.

[Subra]

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-fy10/77547/on

When asked about its planned foray into manufacturing of buses in the country, Arya said: "We have almost finalised our partnership with an European firm and initially the products will be rolled out from our Kosi plant in Uttar Pradesh."

The company would later set up a dedicated bus manufacturing facility in one of India's auto hubs, such as Gurgaon, Chennai or Pune, he added.

[Kewl Batty]

Lets hope for the best... Michelin, Apollo, Bridgestone... still counting..

[Kewl Batty]

J K Tyres to invest Rs 1,200 crore in next 3-4 years for expansion

The renewed vigour that has got back to the Indian automobile industry is leading major automobile companies to pump in large sums of money to expand their manufacturing facilities in India. As a result, there is a growing demand for new and replacement tyres in the country.

Discerning the potential of its business, JK Tyre & Industries has firmed up its plans to invest Rs. 1,200 crore over the next 3-4 years in expanding its capacity, including setting up a greenfield car radial plant in South India. The company, which currently rolls out 92 lakh units from its four Indian plants, will scale it up to 98 lakh units, which includes addition of 5 lakh units of car radials at the plant near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. It would be ramping up its overall production capacity of nine million tyres in phases in India. It is widely believed that the company will fund the expansion through a combination of internal accruals and debt. A senior representative of JK Tyre Industries was earlier quoted as saying to Agencies before that that it sees immense opportunities in its Off-the-Road (OTR) tyre business, which has propelled the company to go ahead with its expansion programme of scaling up the output of truck and bus radials, OTR and speciality tyres.

JK Tyre & Industries Marketing Director A. S. Mehta said, while inaugurating its CV radial plant in Mysore, “As part of our expansion plans, we are looking to establish a greenfield car radial plant, likely to come up in one of the Southern states -- Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu." He added, “The proposed plant would be set up at an investment of about Rs. 400 crore and would have an initial production capacity of 25 lakh units per annum, as quoted by PTI.

Incidentally, PTI has reported exclusively that JK Tyre and Industries is eyeing to double exports from its Mexican subsidiary, Tornel, within a year, and is looking at the Central and Southern American markets for expansion. It may be recalled that the tyremaking giant had taken over Tornel last year and the latter is running three facilities which has a capacity utilisation of around 85-90 per cent. Out of the total 66 lakh units produced in the three Mexican plants, nearly 75 per cent is catering to the domestic market and the rest serves the overseas markets. A senior official of JK Tyre told PTI that the company is aiming scale up its exports to 50 per cent of the overall output in the next one year. Among the overseas markets (for Tornel) which the company is actively considering are Brazil and other Southern and Central American countries. The company is already selling some products of all our three brands -- JK Tyre, Vikrant and Tornel - in some Non-Mexican markets.