India’s Minda Corporation is expanding capacity at its existing automotive plastic manufacturing unit in its home country and plans two more plants within five years. It is also expanding overseas with acquisitions.
“We are expanding the Chaken, Pune plant for completion by June 2012. We have decided to set up two more units – in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, by the end of 2013 and the second one at Sanand, Gujarat, by the end of 2014,” business development chief Sandeep Aggarwal told just-auto.
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He added the expansion and the two new plastic interior and exterior components factories would cost about US$50m.
Sandeep noted: “Composite plastic is as strong as steel or metal and that is the reason plastic is increasingly replacing steel or metal components in the automotive sector around the world.”
Minda supplies plastic oil sumps for Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks, replacing grey iron parts.
Minda recently won an order from General Motors India. “We are going to supply 100% of the interiors of the [Chevrolet] Sail hatchback,” Sandeep said. The model will be launched here by mid-2012.
Minda is a key maker of automotive interiors for Indian OEMs, supplying parts like the central console, seat rim and backrest for the VW Polo and Vento, central consoles for the Skoda Fabia hatchback and Tata Sumo Gold, air vents for Fiat’s Linea sedan and parts for Maruti Suzuki’s recently upgraded Swift.
Minda has also extended its plastics footprint in Europe with a series of acquisitions in the past five years. Minda KTSN Plastic Solutions (MKPS) is located at Pirna, near Dresden, Germany, and has over 50 years’ experience developing and making plastic parts and assemblies.
Minda Schenk Plastics Solutions specialises in car interiors and is one of the key players in Europe supplying global players like Daimler. It is based in Esslingen, Germany, with plants there and in Liberec, Czech Republic. Minda has also acquired Alu Automotive in Poland and Axis Automotive in Kongin, Germany.
