“We’ve invested INR 45 million in this product and manufacturing facility in Chennai to allow it to build the next generation of software-defined, fully-integrated cockpit controllers for the Indian auto market,” said Matthew Cole, Aptiv’s senior VP & president of AS&UX. “The expansion also means doubling manpower count to 230 people from just over a 100 now. This plant is a highly automated plant and one of the best Aptiv has across the globe. We will be launching the products in the next couple of months,” he added.
To begin with, the plant will focus on the domestic market. “Our investment is driven by the pull of the Indian auto market and its shift towards software driven vehicles and higher level of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems),” said Cole. However in future the company plans to target export markets as well. “We have a strategy to scale up and as we do so we will look at opportunities of exports for non-Indian OEMs as well,” added Cole.
Aptiv, which has been in India for 30 years and has 13,000 employees spread over seven plants and three tech centres, has been continuously expanding in India. “Last year we did the engineering centre in Bengaluru and this year we did the engineering centres in Pune and Chennai and now the plant expansion in Chennai,” added Cole.
With nearly 2.2 sq ft, the expanded plant will produce cutting-edge cockpit control systems and will scale up to include advanced safety and user experience features such as radars, cameras, and electronic control units for India and global markets.
“From our plant in Chennai, we are already supplying high-quality components, such as integrated body control modules (iBCM) to key automakers in the country,” said Arun Devaraj, VP & MD, AS&UX APAC (non-China), Aptiv. “Our new and smart production facility will allow us to support an even wider range,” he added.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
