The Hindu Business Line : Sundaram-Clayton to complete brakes biz demerger by Feb

In May, the company approved the transfer of the brakes business of SCL to its wholly owned subsidiary, WABCO-TVS (India) Ltd, as on January 1, 2007 through a scheme of de-merger.

The non-brakes business and investments will continue to remain with the Rs 816-crore Sundaram-Clayton, said the Executive Director of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd, Mr H. Lakshmanan.

WABCO is a part of US auto components major, American Standard Companies, and is a leading producer of electronic braking, stability, and suspension and transmission control systems for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. WABCO products are also increasingly used in luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

The de-merger will benefit customers of brakes business in terms of new products since WABCO will be fully involved in the new wholly owned subsidiary WABCO-TVS (India) Ltd, Mr Lakshmanan said.

While customers would get the benefits of latest technology (through WABCO), the company would also gain because of export opportunities.

He said the sourcing of components would cross Rs 100 crore in a year’s time.

The foundry business will continue to be with SCL, he said and added that exports have already reached 30 per cent of the total revenue, against 10 per cent four years ago. Higher growth in exports is expected with opportunities coming to India.

Oragadam plant

SCL is currently setting up a plant in Oragadam at a cost of Rs 70 crore, primarily to support Hyundai Motor India Ltd. It may be noted that the Korean car company doubled its capacity to 600,000 units a year — the expansion project would be completed early 2008.

SCL expects its new plant to be up and running by May 2008, Mr Lakshmanan said.

While Hyundai would be the anchor customer, there will be opportunities to supply to other OEMs too. Talks are on with “a couple of large OEMs” to supply castings, he said.

In addition to Oragadam plant, SCL is also setting up a unit in the Mahindra City Special Economic Zone. Eventually, the company would shift all its export production to this facility, to gain from the sops offered by SEZs.

WABCO-TVS to introduce new braking system at Delhi Expo

WABCO-TVS plans to introduce its anti-lock braking system (ABS) in the Delhi Auto Expo next month, Mr H. Lakshmanan, Executive Director, Sundaram-Clayton said.

Initially the ABS units would be imported from WABCO, but would be eventually manufactured at the company’s Chennai unit, he said.

WABCO-TVS’s parent company, Sundaram-Clayton also manufactures ABS, but its products are for heavy duty vehicles. The ABS of WABCO-TVS would be meant for light and medium duty commercial vehicles.

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