Conti buys out Indian brake JV partner

Continental AG has acquired the 50 per cent share of its Indian brake joint venture (Rico Hydraulic Brakes India Ltd) belonging to Rico Auto Industries Limited. In buying out Rico Auto Conti has made Rico Hydraulic Brakes into a fully owned subsidiary of Continental.

Since 2009 the plant in Gurgaon near New Delhi has been producing and supplying components for hydraulic brake systems to OEM customers in India. These include products and services consisting of calipers for front and rear axles, drum brakes, master cylinders, brake boosters and load sensing proportioning valves for all kind of passenger cars.

“India plays an important role in the growth strategy of our hydraulic brake systems business unit. The investment in the Gurgaon activities underlines our intention to add even more value to driving safety for the Indian automotive industry and end consumers. With our Indian operations we support worldwide OEMs with their production locations in India as well as Indian homebased OEMs”, said Dr. Peter Laier, executive vice pesident of the Hydraulic Brake Systems business unit, Continental Chassis & Safety division.

The latest news is another sign that Continental is continuing to concentrate on the key components of its business strategy, one of the main ones being above-average profitable growth in the growth regions, including BRIC, especially in China, India and other Asian countries. 

In 2011 Continental acquired Modi Tyres and committed a further 50 million euros to ramp up the tyre business in the country. Conti also expanded the India Technical Centre in 2011 and says it is planning expansion of its automotive facilities in Pune and Manesar in 2012.