Hayes Lemmerz Boosts Wheel Output in India

March 6, 2007
Plans new plant for passenger-vehicle wheels

March 7, 2007 — Hayes Lemmerz International's Indian subsidiary, Kalyani Lemmerz Ltd., recently completed expanding its commercial-vehicle steel wheel plant, raising its annual capacity to 800,000 units. And, a further expansion to 1 million units/year is planned in the coming months.

Northville, MI-based Hayes Lemmerz owns 85% of Kalyani Lemmerz, which is located about 100 miles from Mumbai at Chakan, near Pune, where most of India's automotive suppliers have their operations.

Kalyani Lemmerz plans to build a new plant to produce steel wheels for passenger cars next to the existing operation. That plant will produce 200,000 wheels per year by October 2008, and may be expanded to 400,000 units per year eventually.

"The expansion, both in commercial and passenger car steel wheels, strengthens our presence in the fast-growing India market and also enables us to support our customers around the globe," stated Hayes Lemmerz Global Wheel group president Fred Bentley.