Hyderabad: ZF Group To Set Up Technology Centre

While a lot of automotive companies have come on-board the ‘Make in India’ ship, there’s extensive progress on the ‘Develop In India’ front as well. The latest addition will be the ZF Group that has confirmed its plans to build a technology centre in India.

  As per the official release, the facility will be set up in Hyderabad, with operations beginning by January 1, 2017. ZF’s first technology centre in India is expected to have a workforce of 2,500 engineers by the year 2020.   “This new facility is a significant investment for ZF in India. We are harnessing the skilled talent pool that India has to offer in order to develop superior technology solutions for our global as well as local customers.” said Dr. Stefan Sommer, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG. “As demand for software engineering grows, we will exponentially increase our capacity to help meet our customers’ growth aspirations. With this Technology Center, we are reinforcing our global R&D footprint as well as our commitment and investment in the rapidly emerging Indian market,” he added.

  For the uninitiated, ZF is one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers. The company carries out R&D in the fields of driveline and chassis technology, along with active and passive safety systems. Manufacturers that use ZF’s products include BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Renault. 13,800 engineers are currently working in R&D with ZF globally. The research and development network consists of more than 100 development locations, including 17 main centres.

  The German auto giant has considerable investments in India and has even launched technologies like the electric parking brake (EPB) through its Pune facility. Additionally, the company is a part of ZF Hero Chassis Systems, a 50-50 joint venture between ZF India and Hero Motors conceived in 2010, that, in itself, caters to carmakers like Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz.