With increasing awareness and acceptance of safety technologies, India is emerging as a focus market for ABS, ESC and Electronic Brake Systems, for both passenger cars and two-wheelers. Recognising the business potential, safety component suppliers are expanding manufacturing capacity.

Technology company Continental today inaugurated two new lines for ABS and ESC assembly at its plant in Gurgaon. This capacity increase is to address the market requirements stemming from government of India legislations for ABS entry in April 2019 for passenger cars and two-wheelers. Continental, as is known, as an overriding goal of ‘Vision Zero’ – a future with zero accidents.

Continental has been steadily investing in India to localise ABS/ESC. In 2016, Continental set up a line for ABS assembly, in addition to ESC systems, in Gurgaon, followed in 2018 by a new line in its Bangalore plant, for production and assembly of Electronic Control Units (ECU) for two-wheeler and passenger car ABS and ESC. 

“We at Continental continue to drive safety technology toward our vision of zero accidents and therefore support making safety available to everyone. The good news about the India market is the increase in consumer awareness about vehicle safety, the seriousness with which the Government is approaching this topic, and the commitment of manufacturers. As a technology company, we will fully support this positive movement, and will continue to make investments where necessary,” said Prashanth Doreswamy, Head of Continental India.

According to Krishan Kohli, Head of Continental’s Vehicle Dynamics business unit in India, “Continental’s safety systems are among the most advanced worldwide, catering to all categories of vehicles. The pace of adoption of safety technologies has increased in India, and we will continue to localise our products to meet our customer requirements. A few months ago we completed a million units of Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) production from the Gurgaon Plant.”

“In addition to manufacturing, we have a growing R&D footprint in India, based out of Technical Center India (TCI) in Bangalore and the R&D labs in Gurgaon,” added Kohli.

With steady investments, commitment to technological innovation and localisation of the value chain, the company has been growing at a quick pace in India. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary celebration recently, Continental recently announced investments in the country on a high three-digit crore rupees level within the next two years in India, and a plan to increase headcount to 10,000 in the same period.

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