Saint-Gobain Hyundai's OEM glass supplier

Saint-Gobain Glass India will begin OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) automobile glass supplies to India's second largest car maker Hyundai India from 2005.

The company, which has committed upwards of Rs 125 crore to set up an automotive glass unit in its flagship Indian subsidiary Saint-Gobain India will be second OEM supplier to Hyundai after Asahi India.

B Santhanam, managing director Saint-Gobain Glass India confirmed the OEM deal, but refused to indicate the likely supplies to Hyundai, next year. He only said that the supply potential is huge.

The unit coming up at Sriperumbudur near Chennai is part of the company's Rs 650 crore expansion plan. Besides the automotive processing unit, the company is also setting up a second float line. The facility, expected to come into operation towards end 2005, will initially have a capacity of a million car sets.

The unit will roll out laminated, toughened and tempered glass including windshield, sidelite and backlite glasses.

Santhanam said the automotive processing unit at Sriperumbudur is part of the company's plan to have a dual production base mirroring the auto industry, which is neatly equally divided between north and south.

Another Saint-Gobain subsidiary Saint-Gobain Sekurit India has two plants in Pune with a capacity close to 500,000 car sets. Saint-Gobain Sekurit India now caters extensively to Tata Motors and supplied wind shields for Toyota Corolla.

The company is in talks with several other carmakers in the country for similar OEM supplies, Santhanam said. He added that in Europe Saint-Gobain had a 40 per cent share in the automotive glass market and it is but logical for the European auto firms setting up base in India to turn to Saint-Gobain here as well.

Despite the increased focus on the auto sector, Saint-Gobain supply agreement with Asahi India will continue. The company supplies raw glass to Asahi India's Haryana and Chennai plants.