France's Faurecia invests Rs 110 cr for R&D tech centre in Pune

Faurecia, French engineering solutions provider for automotive components, has set up a R & D tech centre in Pune with the investment of Rs 110 crore for automotive interior systems, automotive seating and automotive exteriors, three of its four business groups.

The company has hired over 600 engineers for this tech centre and 200 more by the end of this year. It is a fully integrated facility with CAD/CAE (Computer Aided Design & Engineering) & PPV (Product and Process Validation) activities.

Addressing media in Pune, Christophe Schmitt, executive vice president of Faurecia Interior Systems said, “Faurecia is growing faster than the automotive market, enjoys solid growth potential, benefits from a diverse regional and customer mix and is continuously improving its cost structure. Our new TechCenter in India is an extension of our commitment to the Indian consumers and our growing customer base in the country. Our aim is to develop high quality, high safety and high comfort products at this center. Since the inception of this TechCenter in 2004, Faurecia’s engineering teams in India have developed the most advanced automotive skills to perform the full-range of development activities for customers at home and abroad. ”

Commenting on slow down particulary in automobile sector, he added, The new TechCenter in Pune is an instrumental part of our global R&D and engineering footprint. Faurecia is a global player in this sector. We are not here for a one or two years. We are targeting over 50 per cent market share of Asia Pacific region. Everything from investment in infrastructure, recruitment of young engineers, comprehensive training processes and quality is testimony to Faurecia’s long-term growth plans in India."

Currently, Faurecia is headquartered in Pune and has two R&D centers in the country, in Pune (Interior, Seating & Exterior) and in Bangalore (Emissions Control Technologies).

Faurecia also has nine production facilities covering the main Indian automotive production base in Pune, Manesar (Delhi), Chennai, Bangalore and Sanand (Gujarat). Faurecia serves leading automobile companies like Ford, Hyundai, Mahindra, Maruti-Suzuki, Tata, Toyota and Volkswagen. The company's total investment in India is around Rs 700 crore.

Franck Euvrard, managing director, Faurecia Interior Systems India said “The systems and technologies developed in India are in keeping with the overall Group strategy for its global requirements; India for us at Faurecia, is marked by a long-term commitment to grow teams and locations, to operate as centers of excellence, capable of developing hi-tech solutions for Faurecia’s global and local customer base. Everything from investment in infrastructure, recruitment of young engineers, comprehensive training processes and quality is testimony to Faurecia’s long term growth plans in India.”