Lear's second Nashik unit to start in March

Lear Corporation, one of the world's major automotive interior suppliers, will commission its second seats manufacturing facility in Nashik by March next year at an investment of around Rs 30 crore.

The facility will come up in the Ambad areas of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The company already has a vehicle seats manufacturing plant at Gonde, 25 km from Nashik.

"To meet the future demand, Lear is building a new seats manufacturing facility at an investment of Rs 30 crore. The construction cost of this plant is Rs 6 crore and the rest would be spent on setting up of machineries and related technical infrastructure. This new facility, which is expected to start commercial operation by March 07, will be spread over 1.40 lakh sq mt," company sources said.

The company has its presence in India through its two companies, Lear Seating and Hanil Lear India Pvt Ltd.

Lear's three manufacturing facilities, catering to the needs of their respective original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), located at Halol, Gonde (Nashik) and Mumbai, manufacture seating systems and interiors for multi-utility vehicles (MUVs).

According to sources, Lear is the major seats and interior suppliers to Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M).

It is already catering to the seats and other interior requirements of M&M's utility vehicles `Scorpio' and 'Bolero'. Besides, M&M has awarded seats and interior contracts to Lear for its forthcoming 'Logan' and 'Ingenio' vehicles, which include seating, instrument panels, floor consoles, trim and carpeting.

Lear started supplying seats in 1998 from its two plants in Mumbai and Gonde, where M&M's plants are located. The company's 1-lakh sft integrated manufacturing facility at Gonde was completed in 1998.

To support the development of this programme, Lear has also established its India Engineering Centre (IEC), a state-of-the-art engineering and design centre, in Mumbai.