Meritor, Inc. has opened a new US$36.5 million axle assembly facility at Automotive Axles, its joint venture with Kalyani Group along with a state-of-the-art research and development centre in Mysore, India.

“As our global business continues to grow, the new facilities in India will support Meritor‘s M2022 strategic plan to protect and grow our market-leading positions with best-in-class products and services,” said Meritor CEO and president Jay Craig. “They are strong assets that will position us for future growth in the region.”

The new assembly facility expands Meritor India‘s production capacity by 25 percent, equipping it to better serve customers in the commercial vehicle, off-highway and defence sectors. The research and development centre will focus on end-to-end testing and validation of Meritor‘s domestic and global product solutions.

Meritor India‘s 18-month project to expand its capacity and capabilities supports the corporation‘s M2022 plan by focusing on growing revenue, enhancing profitability, maintaining manufacturing excellence and delivering customer satisfaction.

“This investment in our business and expansion of our capabilities significantly enhances our ability to support customers as our markets continue to show growth in the long term,” said Meritor India and Australia vice president and managing director Thimmaiah Napanda.

Baba Kalyani, chairman of Automotive Axles and chairman of Kalyani Group of companies, which has two joint ventures with Meritor in India, said strong and continued customer focus, innovation in products and processes and determination to deliver the best to customers has always been key to their success.

Meritor‘s joint ventures with the Kalyani Group are Meritor Heavy Vehicle Systems (India) Ltd that builds drivetrain solutions for heavy commercial, military and off-highway applications, and Automotive Axles Ltd, which makes drive and non-drive axles, front steer axles, specialty and defence axles as well as drum and disc brakes.

Meritor India supplies drivetrain, braking and suspension systems for on-highway, off-highway and military applications. The company recently launched a slipper-type suspension with one of the top OEMs in India and has expanded its presence into Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Meritor has manufacturing facilities in Mysore, Jamshedpur, Hosur and Pantnagar, as well as engineering centres in Bengaluru and Mysore and an aftermarket distribution centre in Pune. More than 120 authorised distributors sell Meritor aftermarket parts in India.