India - The two companies are joining forces to create Adient Arvind Automotive Fabrics - a joint venture company that will develop, manufacture and sell fabrics for vehicle seating systems in India. The first plant will be located in Ahmedabad, and will serve both domestic and international OEMs.
"Adient is committed to delivering new value to our customers while enhancing our fabrics product portfolio through continuing advancements," noted Jef Vercammen, vice president of global fabrics at Adient. "This partnership with Arvind Limited gives us an exciting opportunity to do just that in India’s rapidly growing automotive market. Combining Adient’s global fabrics design and technological resources with Arvind’s extensive manufacturing capabilities will enable us to accelerate the pace at which we bring innovative automotive fabrics products to market in India."
According to a report by research company MarketsandMarkets, the global automotive seats market will be worth around US$37 billion by 2020. It highlights India as one of the key emerging markets driving growth due to a number of factors such as low production costs and government initiatives supporting foreign investment.
Punit Lalbhai, executive director at Arvind, believes that the joint venture marks an important step forward in the development and production of innovative new automotive fabrics. "We are transforming our business quickly through technologies and partnerships that enable us to explore and create new opportunities across our business divisions. One of our key pillars is to extend textile manufacturing into newer frontiers outside of fashion and into various spaces like human protection, construction and transport. This partnership is a watershed moment in this journey," he added.
