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Chennai will be worlds largest auto-manufacturing hub: Stalin
Posted on: 12/Feb/2011 4:21:14 AM
Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin on Thursday formally inaugurated the next generation Apollo Tyres’ 9th global tyre manufacturing unit and the 4th in India near Oragadam on the outskirts of Chennai.
Mr. Stalin said that the State government will soon enter into an MoU with Mahindra & Mahindra for setting up a plant for production of 1.50 lakh SUVs with an investment of Rs.1,800 crore.Discussions were in final stages with a global automobile major for setting up of a plant near Chennai with a production capacity of three lakh cars and investment of Rs.4,000 crore.
Speaking on the occasion Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres, said, “While planning this manufacturing facility, we have ‘questioned’ existing practices, studied benchmarked systems within Apollo and outside, with a desire to create an iconic tyre manufacturing facility, which is technologically advanced and yet cost competitive.’’
Built over 128 acres, construction began on site in December 2008 at the peak of the global downturn. The first tyre was commercially produced by February 2010, in a short span of 14 months. The projected investment of `450 crore in 2008, has since been scaled up multi-fold to `2,100 crore ($ 430 million).
The Chennai plant currently produces 7,000 passenger vehicle tyres and 1,300 commercial vehicle tyres a day. At its terminal capacity, production is expected to reach 16,000 passenger vehicle and 6,000 commercial vehicle tyres a day.
