Technology company Continental today inaugurated its greenfield plant in Pune, India. The company said in a statement that the plant is for manufacturing surface solutions materials for the Indian automotive and two-wheeler market.  

With investments totalling about INR 2 billion covering facilities and machinery, Continental will produce premium surface materials for car interiors, including electric vehicles, as well as two-wheeler seats, catering primarily to the domestic market and exports, the release said. 

“Growing our business in the Asia-Pacific region is one of our main strategic pillars. Amongst 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,” said Philip Nelles, Member of the Continental Executive Board and Head of Group Sector ContiTech, at the inauguration ceremony in Pune. 

Dr. Dirk Leiss, heading the business area Surface Solutions, said: “Premium vehicle interiors are increasingly becoming important for car users. Our surface material provides both, luxury and comfort, improving the overall driving experience.”  

The new location is Continental’s sixteenth surface solutions plant globally, producing surface materials like Acella Eco used by worldwide top car manufacturers and automotive brands. 

Dr. Leiss added: “Our surface solutions come with the guarantee of state-of-the-art quality and heritage of more than 300 years in the industry.” 

Prashanth Doreswamy, President and CEO, Continental India, said, “Continental has been growing steadily in the Indian market. We have now invested in Pune, a significant and long-established hub for the automotive industry, and we aim to be our customers’ first partner of choice for surface solutions. With this, we reaffirm our commitment to the local market, aligned to our ‘in the market, for the market’ philosophy.” 

The 149,000 square feet manufacturing facility, with an initial annual capacity of five million square meters of surface material can be scaled up to 10 million square meters.  

Landry Tchapda, head of the surface solutions plant management, said, “We are committed to our environment and are doing a lot to ensure that we are constantly reducing our carbon footprint. The new plant features best-in-class energy efficiency standards, sustainable production processes, an ergonomic work environment, 100 percent sewage and wastewater treatment as well, exhaust air treatment of all processes, and use of energy from renewable source.” 

Tchapda added, “With skilled workforce and cutting-edge technology at our disposal, our production is world-class, to cater to the requirements of our customers. In addition to production, storage, logistics, purchasing, and sales, we have also scheduled resources and capacities for laboratories, design and product development. India is a promising market to grow. So, we expand our operations at a rapid pace. Our innovative surface solutions are available for a variety of car interior and two-wheeler applications and we strive to be making us the market leader in near future.” 

The plant will primarily manufacture Acella Eco and Acella Lux material, which add aesthetic value to vehicle interiors. Eco-friendly foam foil Yorn and Yorn Light will also be produced in the near future. (MT)

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Tata Elxsi, a global leader in design and technology services has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Infineon Technologies, a leading semiconductor solutions company, to jointly develop application-ready electric vehicle solutions tailored to the Indian market.

The partners will collaborate on design and integration expertise to drive faster adoption of automotive-grade, cost-efficient and safety-compliant subsystems across key mobility segments. This collaboration, the partners stated, aligns with India’s rapid shift towards electrification, with EV sales growing by 25–30 percent year-on-year in 2024, including a 28 percent increase in electric two- and three-wheeler sales.

As part of the understanding, Tata Elxsi will bring its design, system integration and validation capabilities, while Infineon will provide early access to its latest semiconductor technologies – such as silicon carbide (SiC)-based components, microcontrollers and integrated circuits (ICs).

The partners will work closely to develop high-voltage inverters for traction and auxiliary systems, scalable battery management systems (BMS), bi-directional onboard chargers and high-voltage thermal management solutions for the Indian market targeting two-wheeler, three-wheeler, passenger vehicles and commercial vehicle segments. In future, they also look to support eVTOL, energy and off-highway sectors.

Nambi Ganesh, Head – Automotive, Tata Elxsi, said, “Currently, several of our EV solutions are already built on Infineon SoCs and components. This MoU further strengthens our partnership by giving us a clearer scope and tighter system-level alignment, enabling shorter turnaround times to address Indian market requirements. As EV adoption scales, our focus remains on delivering production-ready, automotive standards-compliant platforms and solutions.”

Kenneth Lim, Senior Vice-President – Automotive, Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific, said, “At Infineon, we are committed to driving innovation in the electric vehicle sector and empowering our partners to bring cutting-edge technologies to market. This partnership with Tata Elxsi is a significant step in our journey to support India’s ambitious electrification goals. By combining Tata Elxsi's design and integration expertise with our advanced semiconductor solutions, we are not only enhancing the development of ready-to-deploy EV systems but also ensuring that they meet the highest safety and performance standards. Together, we aim to accelerate the adoption of electric mobility across various segments, from two-wheelers to commercial vehicles, and contribute to a more sustainable future for India.”

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Hindustan Zinc Limited, India's sole and the world's biggest integrated zinc producer, said today that its Board of Directors has authorised the first phase of investments to double production capacity.

This development is in line with the robust rise in the demand for steel both domestically and internationally. Over the next five years, the company intends to increase its capacity for producing metal and silver, increasing its overall production capacity to over 2,000 KTPA and 1500 tonnes, respectively. In addition to expanding related mines and mills throughout its operations, the Board has authorised the proposal to establish a new 250 KTPA integrated smelter at Debari in the Udaipur area of Rajasthan. The company’s current metal production capacity is 1.1 million tonnes. At a total cost of over INR 120 billion, the project is expected to be finished in 36 months.

This is an important development since it coincides with the ongoing global zinc market shortage. Silver output has increased more than 20 times, while zinc production has increased four times since the government sold up its share in 2002 and the Vedanta Group bought it. Holding the second-highest zinc reserves and resources in the world with more than 25 years of mine life, the firm is one of the lowest cost zinc producers in the world.

Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc Limited, said, “We are excited to announce this 2x growth project towards doubling our capacity across zinc, lead and silver, which is strategically aligned with the country’s expanding economic landscape, increasing demand opportunities and keeping country self-reliant for Zinc. By closely matching the pace of national growth, we are confident that this will create significant value for our stakeholders and drive long-term success.”

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India’s automotive industry could face fresh supply chain disruptions by mid-July 2025 due to declining inventories of rare earth magnets, following tightened export restrictions and shipment delays from China, according to rating agency ICRA.

Jitin Makkar, Senior Vice President and Group Head – Corporate Ratings at ICRA, cautioned that the situation echoes the semiconductor shortage of 2021–22, which led to the loss of nearly 100,000 passenger vehicles. “Rare earth magnet inventories are projected to last only until mid-July 2025 for several passenger vehicle and two-wheeler applications,” he said.

Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, critical for high-performance uses like EV traction motors and power steering systems, are heavily imported – around 85 percent of India’s USD 200 million imports in FY2025 came from China. These magnets make up nearly 30 percent of an electric two-wheeler motor’s cost, with motors priced between INR 8,000 and INR 15,000 depending on specifications.

To counter the supply challenge, Indian OEMs and auto component manufacturers are exploring several alternatives: importing fully assembled motors from China, sending rotors to China for magnet assembly, using substitute materials with similar properties, or switching to rare earth-free motors using electromagnets. However, each option faces significant logistical, regulatory, and engineering hurdles.

While the immediate impact could disrupt production planning, ICRA believes the crisis may also drive innovation and diversification in both materials and supply chains for the Indian auto sector.

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Hyundai Mobis, a part of Hyundai Group specialising in manufacturing of auto components, modules & systems, has developed a new rear safety control technology that can reduce rear-end collisions.

The company states its new active control technology uses sensors to detect approaching vehicles from behind and manoeuvre the vehicle out of danger, is expected to hit the market soon. It integrates sensors such as rear-side radars and front cameras with driving control technology.

The solution works when the driver engages the Smart Cruise Control (SCC) function on the highway. When the sensors detect any other vehicle at a proximity of 10 metres or less, it first emits an audio alarm or a visual warning on the cluster. When the situation keeps persisting after a certain amount of time, the vehicle automatically accelerates to maintain a safe distance. In addition, the rear side radars also detect the movement of the vehicle behind, while the front camera recognises the lane and vehicle ahead on the driving path to assist in safe acceleration.

Hyundai Mobis acknowledges that while some global OEMs have already integrated such technology, the functions are not yet advanced enough for the vehicle to control itself autonomously. On the other hand, its technology is able to independently adjust the distance between the front and rear vehicles and avoid dangerous situations.
The Korean company plans to further expand the scope of autonomous control for defensive driving against rear vehicles. Currently, the company is developing a lane-changing function to escape dangerous situations, in addition to an acceleration control function that allows the vehicle to speed up on its own.

Jung Soo-kyung, Executive Vice-President and Head of Automotive Electronics Business Units, Hyundai Mobis, said, “We will actively protect the safety of mobility users by providing solutions that can intelligently handle not only front-end safety, but also dangerous situations caused by rear vehicles while driving.”

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