GKN Driveline: “India continues to be a key growth market”

GKN Driveline, supplier of automotive driveline components and systems in India, has announced its continued focus on India, which it sees a key growth market. Speaking at Auto Expo 2012, Ravindra Ojha, managing director of GKN Driveline in India, said: “GKN Driveline has posted an annual growth rate of more than 15 percent over the past five years in India which clearly is a critically important market for the company. We expect India to remain a high-growth automotive market for many years to come and will continue to invest here to meet our customers need for Constant Velocity Joint (CVJ) systems, trans-axle components and all-wheel-drive products, as well as products for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles.”

In the past 12 the company has broken ground on a new facility in Pune and opened a precision forge at Oragadam, near Chennai. The continued expansion enables it to be located close to its customers facilities. With the completion of these its new plants, GKN Driveline employment in India will total 1,200, an increase of 20 percent. Currently GKN Driveline employs 1,000 people at three CVJ Systems factories in Faridabad, Dharuhera, and Oragadam.

The new 8,0000-square-mmetre facility at Pune will manufacture products from GKN Driveline’s CVJ Systems and Trans Axles Solutions product portfolio. The Rs 130 crore (£18 million) factory will employ over 200 people and is strategicall y located within 30km of a number of major GKN Driveline customers including Fiat, Volkswagen, General Motors, Tata Motors and Renault. When fully operational in September 2012, the plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million CVJ systems. The new plant will also manufacture differentials from GKN Driveline’s Trans Axle Solutions product range.

In November 2011, GKN Driveline opened a new Rs 48 crore (£6.6m) precision forge at Oragadam. The 5,000-square-metre facility supplies precision forgings to GKN Driveline’s Oragadam CVJ Systems manufacturing plant, which annually produces 1.2 million sideshafts for automotive manufacturers in South India.

Pictured at the company stall at Hall 5, Stand 5.4, are Ravindra Ojha, MD, GKN Driveline India and Paul Dinwiddy, Global Communication Director, GKN Driveline.