Magneti Marelli is hoping to more than double its revenues in India and make the country an export hub for other countries.
Italian automobile parts manufacturer Magneti Marelli is betting big in India after measuring a lot of success here in collaboration with giants like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Volkswagen and Hero. Magneti Marelli produces advanced systems and components for the automobile industry and has 89 production units, 12 research and development centres and 26 application centres in 19 countries. Currently, more than 38,000 employees work in areas including electronic systems, lighting, motor control, suspension systems and shock absorbers, exhaust systems, aftermarket parts and services, plastic components and modules, and motorsport. Owned by the Fiat Group, Magneti Marelli is looking to hire 300 people this year to further help its expansion plans in India.
In India, the company currently has a workforce of about 2300 employees across its 10 plants. Magneti Marelli is setting up a new plant in Manesar in a joint venture (with a majority 51 percent stake) with the country’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki for manufacturing the automated manual transmission (AMT) for its vehicles, while another plant is coming up in Gujarat for manufacturing automotive lighting, which is expected to be ready by the third quarter of 2015-16. Majority of the hiring will be taking place for the aforementioned plants itself. CEO of Magneti Marelli mentioned that they sold 27,000 units of AMT in the year 2014 and will initially start with one line of production and subsequently with the second line, to reach a capacity of 2 lakh units by Q3 of fiscal year 2016 for its upcoming plant.
Magneti Marelli is very optimistic about its plans in India and is looking at more than doubling its revenue from the current 160 million euros (about Rs. 1300 crores) to 400 million euros (about Rs. 3000 crores) over the next three years. The Italian manufacturer is currently basking in the instant success they are experiencing with the AMT unit and are anticipating a very huge demand of it in the near future. They will even look to make India the hub for exporting its technologies to other markets and also feel that the country has the potential to become a hub for cyber security technologies for automobiles. The Italian component manufacturer is currently sourcing about 50 million Euros (about Rs. 341 crores) in auto parts for its global needs and expects India to contribute 4 percent by 2018 to its global revenue from the current 2 percent.
Just recently, Magneti Marelli had also opened a plant in its joint venture with Hero for manufacturing electronic fuel injection (EFI) systems, which will ultimately create an integrated module that will replace the carburettor inside the module. They will also be looking to sell the technology to additional two-wheeler brands as well in the future.
Source – TheEconomicTimes.com