Hindalco Plans To Up Wheels Plant Output

Hindalco Industries, the Aditya Birla group aluminium major, is planning to double the capacity of its aluminium wheels plant to 6 lakh wheels per annum.

The move is in line with the company's strategy to acquire a strong foothold in the value-added segment, and is aimed at capturing high marketshare when demand from the automobile industry picks up.

J D Mehta, senior vice-president, marketing (wheels division), said, "We are looking at increasing the capacity of our wheels division from 3 lakh wheels to 6 lakh wheels per annum."

Hindalco is hoping to get a high share of the market as the automobile industry has begun to shift to aluminium wheels only recently. Earlier, alloy wheels used by major carmakers were imported from Tiwan and Korea.

The company has launched alloy wheels under the brand name 'Aura', manufactured under the technical assistance from Stahlschmidt & Maiworm of Germany at Hindalco's Silvassa plant.

Hindalco has already bagged large orders from automobile giants such as Fiat for its Palio range of cars and at present is in talks with Ford and Maruti.

Besides, Hindalco is looking at placing alloy wheels as a retail product for which the distribution network across the country is in place.

"It is a premium car accessory and we are focusing on the retail market awareness," Mehta said. The company has earmarked around Rs 6 crore for promotional expenditure for its value-added products segment which includes foils and alloy wheels.

"We are also exporting wheels to countries such as South Africa, Egypt and the UAE, and will soon foray into the European markets," Mehta added.

Hindalco uses low pressure die-casting technology to manufacture alloy wheels. The usage of alloy wheels improves fuel efficiency of a car and reduces emission due to its lightweight.