ZF Hero’s new plant in Chennai to assemble chassis modules for BMW

ZF Hero Chassis Systems, the 50:50 joint venture of ZF India and Hero Motors, today inaugurated a new plant in Oragadam, Kanchipuram district on the outskirts of Chennai city. The new facility will assemble front and rear chassis systems for passenger cars. It has a plot size of 7,200 square metres.

In accordance with the local-for-local concept, ZF Hero wants to provide its customers with products from local production wherever possible. Equally, design-to-market considerations play an important role in this regard. ZF engineers are located in the new plant in order to specifically meet the requirements of its customers.

Sharing his views on the development, Uwe Cossman, Head of Car Chassis Technology Division from ZF, said: “We are really happy to be a part of this endeavour and value our partnership with BMW Group. We serve our customer best by handling the complete value stream – from the part manufacturer until the delivery of the complete axle system. ZF will keep delivering quality and innovative products to all its partners in India and globally.”

Robert Frittrang, managing director, BMW Plant Chennai, said: “At the BMW Group, efficiency and quality are of utmost importance. BMW Plant Chennai takes pride in producing cars that have the same international quality standards as any of the BMW Group production and assembly facilities worldwide. ZF Hero Chassis Systems has established itself as a leader in automotive components. The cars rolling out of BMW Plant Chennai now have axles supplied by ZF Hero Chassis Systems. Our partnership is off to a successful start and we are confident that through our partnership, we will continue to deliver best-in-class premium products in the Indian market.”

“ZF Hero Chassis System continues to champion the ‘close to customer’ and ‘Low-cost; High-quality’ offering for global OEM in an Indian setting. ZF Hero has been present with GM India at their locations in Talegaon and Halol and now for BMW at Chennai. We believe in providing the best configured solution of Quality, Cost and Delivery to our customers,” said Pankaj Munjal, chairman of Hero Motors.

“This is already the third facility for ZF Chassis Systems in the region serving BMW Group,” said Michael Guempel, head of the Region South-East-Asia/India/Pacific, “which is a testimony about superb quality and delivery performance. We are honored by this trust in us and are committed to demonstrate continuously our proven capabilities.”

Speaking on the occasion, Suresh KV, Country Head of ZF in India & Head of ZF India, said: “The new facility in Chennai is a testament of our commitment to India and to be present in closer proximity to our customers and cater to the needs of the local market. From the new plant, we will support our customers with our innovative products and technology. We want to use our global expertise and experience to provide customized solutions for the Indian market and therefore consolidate our global market position.”

ZF has been operating for more than three decades in the Indian market. Currently, ZF’s presence in India consists of nine plants (not including ZF TRW) spread across Pune, Pantnagar, Gurgaon, Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, and roughly 3,000 employees.