Best Group forms JV with German firm; to jointly invest Rs 40 cr

New Delhi, Jul 13 (UNI) Best Group, an auto component maker said it has formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Germany's Koki Technik Transmissions GmbH (KTT) to manufacture transmission shifting components used in four-wheeler vehicles.

''Both the partners will invest Rs 40 crore over the next three year in the newly-formed JV firm, named Best Koki Automotive (P) Ltd,'' KTT Chief Executive Officer Bernd Beltrame said.

The transmission shifting products will be manufactured at Best Group's production unit at Gurgaon and will be available in the market next year.

The new JV will have installed manufacturing capacity of about seven lakhs units in a year.

At present, all the automobile manufacturers producing Gear Boxes in the country are using relatively old technology products.

''The new JV will be the first company in India to manufacture new high-tech entire Transmission Shifting Systems and sub-assembly for automotive industry, '' Best Group Chairman S K Jain said.

While the major portion of the production will be sold in the domestic market, Mr Jain said and added that the JV will also export components and sub-assemblies to Koki Technik.

The initial exports by the JV will start within this financial year for which it has already received the order for 1,30,000 units from Koki Technik, which holds more than 50 per cent market for the transmission shifting modules in the Europe.

Having 25 patents, Koki Technik, which delivers over five million shift towers and nine million shift forks worldwide yearly, has a group turnover of 140 million euros with multi-location production facilities in Europe.

In India, Koki's transmission shifting systems are being used in the Indian market, where the OEM's are importing the Gear Boxes from Europe, Mr Beltrame said.

Best Group, a 35-year old group which is a major player in the India market for Control Cables in the passenger car segment, has a turnover of Rs 100 crore.

The group is also a leading exporter with over 50 per cent of its cable production exported to Italy, France, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey.

UNI MP AK BD1205