Ashok Leyland, Siemens VDO Signs Agreement To Set Up Joint Venture

Chennai: Ashok Leyland and Siemens VDO Automotive AG of Germany on July 16, inked an agreement to establish an equal joint venture. The joint venture would be a design, development and marketing company. It will design and develop a range of electronic components and software for vehicles. Manufacturing will be outsourced, although where possible Siemens VDO in India will be engaged in the production. The partners hoped the joint venture to reach a turnover of € 100 million (Rs 550 crore) in the fifth year of operations. Infotronics content is hoped to grow significantly in India following the introduction of BS III compliant vehicles with electronically controlled fuel injection. Ashok Leyland witnesses three areas of marketing Civilian applications, defence applications and production for the Siemens group worldwide. The joint venture with Siemens is the second that Ashok Leyland declared in two weeks. The first was with a Finnish company called Alteams, for production of high pressure die-cast aluminium components.