AURORA, Ontario, Canada Magna International Inc. has established two new facilities in the Sanand region of the state of Gujarat, India, as the company continues to expand its global engineering and manufacturing footprint.
At one of the new Sanand facilities, Magna will make complete seat systems for a leading automaker. The 215,000-square-foot plant will employ approximately 200 people and is expected to begin volume production in 2015.
At Magna’s second new facility in Sanand, the company will manufacture body and chassis systems for multiple customers. The 356,000-square-foot plant will employ approximately 400 people and also expects to begin volume production in 2015.
"Magna’s growth in markets such as India reflects our customers’ need for world-class, innovative suppliers," said Jim Tobin, chief marketing officer and president of Magna Asia. "With almost 1 million square feet of capacity now installed in India, we believe we are extremely well-positioned to support the increasing vehicle production forecast for the Indian automotive industry."
Magna’s facilities in India currently have programs for customers such as General Motors, Volkswagen, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Honda Cars India and Renault-Nissan.
In addition to the two new facilities, Magna is able to provide its customers in India broad product and process expertise on a local basis, as well as global program coordination through a body and chassis engineering center in Bengaluru, seating and full-vehicle engineering centers in Pune and a latch and closure engineering center in Chennai.
Magna’s current presence in India includes approximately 1,600 employees. With the two new Sanand facilities, Magna will have 11 manufacturing locations and four engineering centers.