Continental has announced a new joint venture with Japan's Nisshinbo Holdings, to localise machining for valve block meant for Continental’s Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) in India. The EBS portfolio includes Electronic Stability Control (ESC) for passenger cars and Anti-lock Brake Systems (ABS) for passenger cars and two-wheelers.

Prashanth Doreswamy, president and CEO, Continental India said “By partnering with Nisshinbo, we are now uniquely positioned to provide the Indian automotive sector with the latest in safety technology, completely manufactured and assembled in India. Nisshinbo and Continental have the right synergies, and we are confident that our expertise will achieve a leadership position in the Indian market as well as in exports.”

Krishan Kohli, head of Segment, Vehicle Dynamics and Hydraulic Brake Systems, Continental Automotive India said, “Localisation is our key strategy in India. Our completely localised value chain, from R&D to manufacturing and sales, enables us to offer Indian consumers technologies that are better suited and affordable. This is in line with our focus for Vision Zero – a future with zero fatalities, injuries, and crashes, comes close on the heels of us achieving the milestone of 5 million units of Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) production this year at our Gurgaon plant.”

Under the JV, Nisshinbo will provide machining for producing valve block for ABS and ESC units, which later gets assembled into a complete unit at Continental's Gurgaon plant,  with the integration of ECUs that are manufactured in Continental’s plant in Bangalore. With this, the German company will further increase the localised content in EBS production from India.

Continental manufactures a range of ABS and ESC products such as MK100 ESC for the passenger car market, the one channel MK100 MAB and MiniMAB, and three-channel MK 3-2 MAB for the two-wheeler market. The JV will support in supplying the valve block for these products.