Continental Automotive plans Rs 100 cr expansion

The company on Monday announced the commencement of production at its new manufacturing plant and R&D centre in Bangalore. The new plant, set up at an investment of Rs 220 crore, will develop and produce electronic components such as instrument clusters for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and two-wheelers in India.

Addressing a press conference, here, Jay Kunkel, President Continental Asia and member of the automotive management board of Continental AG, said the investment at Bangalore plant will be further increased by another Euro 15 million in the next two years.

The company, which presently holds about five per cent share in the auto electronic components market in India, aims to increase it to 13 per cent by 2010. The Bangalore plant will also manufacture immobilisers, engine management systems for diesel and gasoline engines, electronic control units for power assisted steering and body control units.

Continental's clients in India include all major OEMs like Tata Motors, M&M, Ashok Leyland, BEML, Hyundai, General Motors, Ford, Skoda, Volvo, Eicher, Hero Honda and TVS Motors among others.

"In the next decade one of the main focuses of the automotive industry will be