Wheels India has signed a Technical Assistance Agreement with Tokyo, Japan headquartered Topy Industries for the design, development and manufacture of aluminium alloy wheels.
As part of this agreement, Topy will provide technical knowhow and engineering support to enhance Wheels India's design and manufacturing capabilities for the cast aluminium wheel business.
Wheels India had forayed into the alloy wheel business in FY21 with a state -of- the-art facility at Thervoy Kandigai in the outskirts of Chennai. Having started off initially by exporting alloy wheels to the US and European after-market, the company is now targeting the domestic market and has commenced supplies to Indian OEMs such as Tata Motors and Stellantis.
The company has also bagged new orders for its aluminium wheels business from Hyundai & Volkswagen and expects to commence supplies next year.
Wheels India is currently in the process of expanding the annual capacity at its alloy wheels plant in Thervoi Kandigai to 7 lakh wheels per annum from the existing 5 lakh wheels per annum. This capacity expansion is expected to be completed by the end of the next quarter.
Buoyed by the prospects in the aluminium wheels segment, the company is planning to further expand its capacity to 10 lakh wheels per annum next year and this expansion is expected to be completed by the end of FY27.
Wheels India already has a JV with Topy for its steel wheels business through WIL Car Wheels having a 74% equity holding. This JV is focused on steel wheels for the Japanese OEMs in India.