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MOTORINDIA
l
April 2012
89
then it moves to air suspensions, as
people want a better ride. For us, bus
suspension comes earlier than other
products.”
Madras SAF-Holland has a manu-
facturing facility in Madurai where
air suspension systems are made.
The company supplies bus suspen-
sions to reputed Indian OEMs, in-
cluding Swaraj Mazda, Eicher and
JCBL.
Mr. Gisinger expressed confi-
dence that the featured suspension
designed specifically for the Indian
market would prove to be a differ-
entiating factor for customers. The
company also offers truck suspen-
sions for heavy-duty applications
such as mining and defence vehicles.
Though its products have gained
acceptance among leading vehicle
manufacturers, the company feels
that the Indian market is unlike oth-
ers. “The products we sell in Europe
and the US may not sell here (in In-
dia). By the end of this year we’ll
have good focus and be moving for-
ward”, he added.
The current Indian JV is for the
Powered Vehicle Business Unit.
SAF-Holland’s contribution to
the six-year-old JV comes mainly
through specialised equipment, tech-
nical expertise and personnel train-
ing, while Madras Suspensions has
provided the infrastructure, man-
power and other facilities at the JV.
The products manufactured in the
Madurai facility are tailor-made for
the Indian market. The company is
not looking at export, though the
Chinese market could possibly be an
exception.
With a view to expanding its op-
erations, Madras SAF-Holland is
on the look-out for a new site with
Chennai, Bangalore and Pune being
the possible options. There is also
occasional demand for trailer prod-
ucts which the company imports de-
pending on the requirements. “We
are the only company in the world
to offer the complete trailer package
globally, while there are others who
offer it at region level”, he remarked.
The Madras SAF-Holland team is
positive about reaping rich dividends
for the efforts put in during the initial
phase. The JV was formed with a 50-
50 equity share between the partner-
ing companies while discussions on
the future prospects of the JV are in
progress.
Mr. Gisinger is keen on expand-
ing Indian operations and is sure that
both SAF-Holland and Madras Sus-
pensions would take the right steps
forward in order to bolster growth.
SAF-Holland has a policy of even-
tually establishing a wholly-owned
company in countries where it has
joint ventures, like in China where
it took over one of its joint venture
projects to set up a fully-owned sub-
sidiary. Interestingly, the company is
also involved in a 50-50 JV in Japan
since 45 years, which has done ex-
tremely well since inception.
Expressing his views on the
growth of India and China, Mr. Gis-
inger said: “The biggest thing that
India has to do is to complete the
infrastructure, because once that is
done, goods can be moved faster
and that’s the need. India has a much
better rail network, which seems to
delay road development. China has
invested a lot of money for develop-
ing infrastructure and is perhaps five
to ten years ahead of India in road in-
frastructure development. I have also
seen a big difference in Indian roads
since my first visit to the country six
years ago.”
w
ITTES 2012 (exclusive)
The company is keen on entering
other segments, including the
trailer segment in the country
which has a lot of growth poten-
tial.
“We are the only company
in the world to offer the
complete trailer package
globally.”
– Mr. Gisinger