Jan 23 2006
With the commissioning of its state of the art cold rolling complex, Essar Steel is now fully geared to meet the critical demands of the automobile industry in Indian and international markets. The Company now offers over 300 grades suitable for use in the auto and auto ancillary industries.
Essar Steel's fully integrated plant specializes in extra thin gauge strips with better and uniform mechanical properties, cleaner surface finish and closer dimensional tolerances than hot rolled strips to meet the demands of consistent quality and customized product offerings.
The total market size for Auto grade products estimated to be in the region 97 lakh units, with two wheelers forming the major share with 80%, three wheelers at 4%, passenger cars at 11%, commercial vehicles at 3 % and tractors at 2 %.
The total steel requirement for this segment is further classified into 0.36 million tonnes of HR Sheets, 0.32 million tonnes of HR Plates and 1.46 million tonnes of Cold Rolled Sheets / Coils. In this high value market, Essar expects to gain a market share of approx. 18% and 17% in Hot Rolled and Cold Rolled Auto Grade steel respectively
Essar's Steel finds applications in various auto components such as axles, wheel rim s and discs, chassis members, truck bumpers, buckets for earth moving equipment, fuel tanks of two wheelers, oil slumps, floor panels, bonnets,etc.
Some of the major customers of Essar Steel in the automobile industry include:
Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, Maruti Udyog, FIAT India, Kalyani Brakes, M&M, Wheels India, Michilen Works, Swaraj Mazda, JCB, CAT, Axles India etc.