Magna to supply manual transmissions for India-made Figo, Aspire from Sanand

Canadian auto components manufacturer – Magna International – plans to supply manual transmissions to Ford India for its Figo hatchback and Figo Aspire sedan models from its plant at the supplier park at Sanand.

According to Jim Tobin, chief marketing officer and president of Magna Asia, the auto parts maker will supply transmissions to Ford India through the recently acquired German transmission maker Getrag Systems.

Magna International acquired the transmission maker Getrag for a whopping $1.9 billion (Rs 1.2 lakh crore) and the latest acquisition will make Magna a major transmission competitor to ZF Friedrichshafen, Japan's Aisin and several other smaller transmission suppliers.

Speaking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of a visit to Magna’s two new plants in Sanand earlier this month, he said: “We bought the transmission manufacturer Getrag Systems recently. They have two joint ventures in Europe with Ford and another JV will be formed with Ford in India at Sanand. We will make manual transmissions with Ford, right down the street from where our plant is right now,” said Tobin, adding that it will be a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies.

“It was part of the deal which we signed with Getrag, which is in process of starting production. In fact they are assembling some transmissions right now in Sanand with rented space. The manual transmissions will go in the Indian models (Figo and Figo Aspire) and the European export models as well,” Tobin revealed. The Indian entity is called Getrag Transmissions India.

Ford India manufactures the Figo and the Figo Aspire at its Sanand facility in Gujarat, which has a production capacity of 240,000 vehicles and 270,000 engines per annum.

The transmissions for the recently-launched Figo and Figo Aspire models are currently made by CK Birla Group’s powertrain component manufacturer company Avtec. According to sources, Avtec uses child parts supplied by Getrag itself. Interestingly, Getrag Systems already supplies the six-speed automatic transmission for the two models.

The privately owned Getrag, with annual revenues of over $3 billion, produces a range of transmissions used globally. It makes wet and dry dual-clutch automatics and five- and six-speed manual transmissions and also has a strong presence in China and other Asian markets. The deal between Getrag and Magna is still in process and will be completed by December end.

Commenting on Getrag’s full scale production plan in India, a spokesperson said: “We haven’t started our commercial production in India yet; we will start in 2018.  The transmissions will be for vehicles in the A and B segment.” The spokesperson added that since the deal with Magna is still under process, more details on the matter cannot be revealed yet.

Ford already has three joint ventures with Getrag in Europe – Getrag Ford Transmissions GmbH, with headquarters in Cologne, Getrag Ford Transmissions Sweden AB, Gothenburg and Getrag Ford Transmissions Slovakia s.r.o. Kechnec.

Magna International recently started production at its two new manufacturing facilities located within the supplier park adjacent to the Ford India assembly plant in Sanand. It supplies body and chassis, and seating systems for the Figo and the Aspire models from its Sanand plants.

With the two new plants in Gujarat, Magna now has a total of 11 manufacturing facilities in the country and with Getrag in the bag as well, the North American component supplier hopes to triple its revenues from India by 2019. 

Also read: Ford India to start exports from Sanand plant to Europe soon