Magna decides to go flat out in India

Canada-based Magna International is expanding operations in India. Group company Magna Powertrain is setting up a facility in Dharuhera near Gurgaon to make powertrain components. The decision follows Magna Powertrain’s joint venture with Amtek Auto to make two-piece flexplate assemblies for automotive applications outside Delhi.

Production will start later this year and exported to the European market in the initial stage. At the same time, Lumax Magna Donnelly Automotive Mirrors, which makes automotive mirror systems, will launch new programs for Maruti.

NEW FACILITY

“There are a couple of more divisions looking to enter India. We will have another facility coming up over the next six months. By this time, 40-50 percent of the product portfolio will be available for manufacturing in India,” managing director, Magna India, Prasen Agali told Autocar Professional.

In India, Magna makes auto mirrors for Maruti through its joint venture with Lumax. Its Pune engineering arm, Magna Steyr plans to set up engineering centres in Pune and Delhi. The company is also keen on strengthening its engineering business with Tata Motors.

Another area of importance for Magna in India is in component sourcing. “We are looking at India for metal products. This is where we see a lot of cost advantages for Indian manufacturers in a global context and it continues to be our focus and growth area,” Agali said. Magna is targeting component exports of $120 million by 2008-09.

Internationally, Magna is betting big on hydrogen. Naturally, the implications for India are still light years away. Agali replied, “Demonstrating hydrogen technology (at the Symposium of International Automotive Technology, Pune) shows our our thrust to bring in the latest technology to India. We can share and deploy a lot of experience so that the process of moving to the hydrogen cycle is a lot faster, smoother and more cost-effective,” Agali said. Magna Steyr is building 120 liquid hydrogen fuel storage tanks which are being fitted in the BMW 7 Series. The company estimates 50,000 vehicles to run on hydrogen by 2010, going up to 300,000 by 2015 and three million in 2020.

Magna’s hydrogen technology has also overcome the age-old problem of storing liquid hydrogen. “We store the hydrogen in -250 degrees Celsius and use stainless steel containers to keep it in the liquid form. We have kept a vacuum in between to prevent heat transport by gases. There is also a multilayer insulation to prevent radiation,” said Kurt Irnberger, project management (space technology), Magna Steyr AG.

TANK SYSTEM

Magna Steyr Graz (Austria) developed the liquid hydrogen tank system along with BMW which, in turn, integrated this tank system into vehicles with bivalent drive. The two companies have developed a double-wall tank container with thermal insulation which consists of an inner tank and outer jacket, liquid filling coupling as well as a hydrogen conditioning and control system.

The cryogenic tank complies with all requirements on fuel tanks for conventionally powered vehicles. Available hydrogen standards and pressure vessel regulations have been applied. The hydrogen tanks have undergone crash and bonfire tests to demonstrate that it is as safe as petrol or diesel.

“We expect a big increase (for hydrogen) after 2010. This means we have to be fit with all our technologies including mass production technologies of such storage containers, either for liquid or high pressure hydrogen,” Irnberger added.

AMMAR MASTER