Uno Minda formerly known as Minda Industries, a Tier-One supplier of proprietary automotive solutions and systems to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) has announced that its board has approved to enter into a joint venture agreement with Buehler motor GmbH, a leading global supplier of customized mechatronic drive solutions, to develop, manufacture and market traction motors in India and other SAARC nations. The joint venture will offer traction motors for battery-driven electrified two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Uno Minda will hold 50.1 per cent stake in the Joint Venture while the remaining stake will be held by Buehler.
Buehler is 165 years old organisation currently headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with manufacturing facilities in Germany, Czech Republic, USA, Mexico and China. Their expertise is much beyond DC and BLDC motors, gear motors and pumps. They specialize in the automotive industry, aviation and many other industrial applications.
The joint venture plans to incur capital expenditure of Rs 110 Crores including sustaining capex over a period of next six years, the investment will be scheduled to meet the demand. The company will be investing Rs 17 Crores as equity investment in the joint venture to part finance the above capital expenditure, while remaining will be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals of the joint venture entity.
“Uno Minda has been in continuous pursuit for new and advance technologies facilitating smarter, cleaner and safer transportation. We are extremely delighted to partner with Buehler to enhance our electric vehicle offerings. This partnership will help us combine our engineering expertise and technologies to accelerate localisation and manufacturing of traction motors for Indian automotive market,” said Nirmal K Minda, CMD, Uno Minda Group.
Mark Furtwängler, CEO of Buehler said, “We are delighted to partner with Uno Minda, a leading player in automotive components and systems, to foray in one of the largest automotive markets: India. Our combined strengths and Uno Minda’s expertise in value-focused engineering, manufacturing process and customer connects and Buehler Motor’s technical expertise, global experience in motors and access to future technology are a potent recipe for success in growing electric vehicle markets in India.”
Over last few years, Uno Minda has built one of the most formidable EVs-specific product portfolio in the industry for two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Addition of Traction motors will further complement the company’s impressive existing EV-specific product portfolio specially the motor controller.