April 17: Exhaust systems and ride control management systems manufacturer Tenneco Automotive has revealed plans to enter the commercial vehicle segment in India. Addressing a press gathering in Chennai today, Abhijit Mukherjee, managing director (pictured), said that by 2015, the company should be launching its exhaust solutions for the Indian market. These systems are to be manufactured at its existing plant in Hosur and its upcoming plant in Chakan. The company has also set up a special R&D cell in its technical centre in Shanghai to meet the three-year deadline.

“We foresee Indian regulations catching up with the ones in Europe and North America in the next five to seven years. Tenneco will be ready with exhaust solutions when that happens,” Mukherjee said. The company already has global tie-ups with CV majors like Caterpillar, John Deere, Navistar, MAN, and Daimler, among others. “The challenge is now to develop technology that will suit these vehicles in Indian conditions,” Mukherjee added. Tenneco has appointed a team of India-based engineers to work alongside the technicians at the technical centre in Shanghai for this purpose.



Mukherjee also called on the government to issue guidelines that have a retrospective effect on vehicles that are more than 10 years old. “This should help in making the air cleaner and put existing technology to good use,” he said.

KARTHIK H