Magneti Marelli Opens New Plant in Manesar for AMT Production!
Magneti Marelli, Fiat’s component manufacturing arm, has opened a new manufacturing facility for the production of robotized gearboxes aka AMTs (Automated Manual Transmissions). The Italian component manufacturer's, Indian subsidiary - Magneti Marelli Powertrain India Private Ltd. is a joint venture between Magneti Marelli, Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki Motor Company, in force since 2007. The new plant covers a total surface area of 7,500 square metres housing the production lines and offices. When fully operational, the plant will employ approximately 115 people and will have a production capacity of 280,000 AMT kits per year.
There are 11 manufacturing unit spread across the country - seven plants and a RD (Research and Development) centre in the New Delhi area, operating in the Powertrain, Electronic Systems, Exhaust Systems and Suspension Systems sectors; Three plants and a RD centre in the Pune area operating in the Lighting, Powertrain, Exhaust Systems and Shock Absorbers sectors; And a plant in the Chennai area, operating in the Exhaust Systems sector.
Maruti Suzuki Celerio introduced the AMT gearbox for the first time in the country and popularised it. Soon, Maruti also introduced it in Alto K10 while Tata launched Zest diesel with the same AMT system and later on in the Nano GenX. All these cars are using AMT from Magneti Marelli while the Mahindra’s AMT, which was introduced with the TUV300, is co-developed by Mahindra and Ricardo. Moreover, there was a report earlier indicating that Hyundai (for Grand i10) and Renault (Kwid) would be using AMT from ZF. However, Renault/Dacia has already revealed their AMT gearbox - Easy-R at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month and along with the Kwid, Duster will also get this gearbox soon in the country.
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