Auto Expo 2014: Sankar Sealing bags business for Nissan Datsun Go diesel

The Chennai-based Sankar Sealing Systems has inked a JV with Japan Metal Gaskets for the latest cylinder gaskets that will be manufactured at a plant on the outskirts of Chennai. The JV company produces these products for new customers that include Nissan Motor India, Ashok Leyland, Maruti Suzuki India and Honda Cars India for passenger cars. While the Indian partner will have a 60 percent stake, the Japanese company has the remaining stake.

Sankar Sealing Systems will supply the product for the diesel version of the Datsun Go. The hatchback is slated to be launched by the end of March 2014. The company is also a supplier to the new Tata Revotron 1.2-litre engine that powers the Bolt hatchback and Zest saloon that were launched at the Auto Expo 2014.

The company has also worked with CV manufacturers to localise the cylinder head gasket for M&HCVs from Mahindra Trucks and Buses. Production for this will kick off at the company’s Chennai plant in a few months. Sankar Sealing has also bagged business for the three-litre engine that goes into the recently launched Ashok Leyland-Nissan bus and LCV platform.

A typical new-generation car has about 20 gaskets while a typical CV has up to 40 but the numbers are coming down, said Jaishankar Unnithan, the company’s joint MD, at the Auto Components show at Pragati Maidan.

Photograph (L-R): Sankar Sealing Systems’ JMD Jaishankar Unnithan with Osamu Aizawa, technical director, Japan Metal Gaskets.