Pune, Maharashtra – Continental has opened a greenfield site in Pune, in the west of India, to make surface material products for car interiors. The German company has invested more than €20m in the site, including construction and machinery costs.
It will cater to both domestic and export markets with its surface materials, which are claimed to be durable, innovative, easy to maintain, and affordable when compared to leather.
Products made there will include Accella Eco and Acella Lux, which are already widely used in the automotive sector. It also plans extend the range made there to include eco-friendly foam foil Yorn and Yorn Light products.
Accella Eco has a polyurethane foam and textile backing, with thicknesses from 0.8mm to 1.4mm. This can be used for seat covers, headrests, doors, sides and the centre console. The company claims it is free from contact allergens and has low VOC emissions.
The 14,000m2 facility will have an initial annual capacity of 5 million m2 of surface materials, which the company claims could be doubled in future.
Pune is a key hub for the Indian automotive industry. The new site is Continental’s 16th surface solutions plant worldwide.
‘Growing our business in the Asia-Pacific region is one of our main strategic pillars,’ said Philip Nelles, Continental board member and head of the company’s ContiTech group. ‘Among others, India will play a major role to strive for our goal. That’s why we continue to invest into our Indian locations. Thus, we will remain close to our customers maximising value creation.’
