14 Tyre Asia April/May 2018
Hankook to enhance Hungar y production
Continental
rolls out 10 millionth tyre
from Russia
NATRAX on track to be operational
H
ankook would construct a new truck tyre plant in
Rácalmás, Hungary for EUR 290 million. The work will
start in first half of 2018 and the production is expected to
commence in two years. It will play a pivotal role in Hankook
Tire’s long-term strategy to cater to European market demands
in both the original equipment and replacement truck and bus
tyre sector.
The Hungarian plant is a key part of Hankook’s European
strategy, as it is the only production unit within the region.
The expansion is likely to create 150 new jobs and provide a
production capacity of over 550 thousand medium and heavy
truck and bus tyres annually.
“As a strategic partner to many leading vehicle makers,
Hankook Tire has become well-known worldwide for its first-
class technology and premium quality tyres in the car and SUV
segment, and for some years in the medium and large size truck
and bus segment too. Thus we have noticed a sharp increase
in demand for our truck and bus tyres within the European
market, and we hope to soon satisfy our customers increasing
demands with the help of our new Hungarian truck and bus tyre
unit,” said Han-Jun Kim, President of Hankook Tire Europe.The production capacity in Hungary has reached more than
55,000 tyres per day, equating to a current production capacity
of up to 19 million tyres a year, offering almost 900 size and
model variations for passenger cars, SUVs, vans and light
trucks, the company said.C
ontinental celebrated the production of its
10,000,000 tyre at its plant in Kaluga, Russia,
only five years after the start of production.
The plant in Kaluga is equipped with state of
the art tyre manufacturing technology and
delivers a wide range of passenger and light
truck tyre products both to original equipment
and replacement customers in Russia, EMEA
and APAC countries. The plant is renown in
the global Continental manufacturing network
for outstanding quality standards and therefore
won the internal Quality Award 2017. In total
the team grew to around 1,000 employees since
start of production.
The tyres produced with German engineering
technology at the Continental plant in Kaluga
are delivered both to the Russian market and
abroad to various EMEA and APAC countries.
The company is also expanding its partnership
with car manufacturers - large Russian and
foreign companies work with the Kaluga tire
plant products. Such interest to the goods
manufactured at the Russian plant is due to high
quality proved by international certificates. All
the items produced at the plant meet quality
standards ISO/TS 16949.
“Tyres are the only mediators between the road
and the car, therefore we are responsible for
the road safety. We ensure highest standards
and a strong internal control at the every
production stage to provide products of the
highest quality to our customers. The Kaluga
plant is an excellent example of synergy of state
of the art equipment, innovative technologies,
well-coordinated and efficient team that allowed
the plant to become a leader in terms of quality
among all the Continental tire productions in a
very short period,”said Nikolai Setzer, member
of the Executive Board of Continental and Head
of the Tire Division.
T
he National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX), which was opened in
January 2018, will be ready for commercial use by October, 2018, Dr N
Karupaiah, Additional Director and Site Head of NATRAX has told media.
Over 13 small and medium testing tracks and two labs – vehicle dynamic
lab and powertrain labs—are currently being developed.NATRAX operates under National Automotive Testing and R&D
Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), a joint initiative by the government and
the automotive industry. NATRiP is the largest initiative in automotive
sector. It includes a state-of-the-art testing centre, validation and R&D
infrastructure.
The 12-track NATRAX project was launched Pithampur, near Indore
in Maharashtra, in 2010 on 4100 acre land. It will be a world-class
automotive proving ground setup on 4,140 acres land for comprehensive
testing and evaluation of all type of vehicles. The site is located between
NH-3 and N-59 and well connected with road. The facility will have
all types of surface type to test vehicles against varying terrains and
stringency. The core of the facility is the oval 4-lane high speed track of
13.6 Km designed for a neutral speed of 250 kmph on curves. The large
part of test load on this facility is related to evaluation of automotive
performance such as max speed, acceleration, break, efficiency,
noise, vibration, handling, stability etc. NATRAX will be the Center Of
Excellence for Vehicle Dynamics. NATRiP has planned an expenditure of
about Rs.Rs.500 Crores to create this world class facilityFacilities at the centers include Vehicle Dynamics Lab (Center of
Excellence), R&DTracks (Proving Ground), NVH (testing on tracks),
Fatigue (Testing on tracks), and Powertrain Lab.