Tenneco Opens New Manufacturing Plant In Chennai, India
Chennai, India/Lake Forest, Illinois, October 1, 2010 – Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) announced today the opening of a new manufacturing plant in Chennai, India. The plant will primarily produce emission control products and systems for original equipment manufacturers, initially supplying Nissan’s global small car platform.
The company invested $5 million in the 2,600 square-meter facility - Tenneco’s seventh manufacturing plant in India – which began producing exhaust systems for the Nissan Micra in May of this year. Tenneco is also supplying modular assembled struts and shocks to Ford from this new facility. The plant currently employs about 60 people and is expected to expand employment and operations as the company wins new business with OEMs operating in the Chennai area.
"Our new plant in Chennai is part of our strategy to expand Tenneco’s position in fast-growing automotive markets such as India," said Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO, Tenneco. "Our facilities in India support domestic and international vehicle manufacturers and are integrated with Tenneco’s worldwide manufacturing and engineering resources, which is increasingly important as our customers launch global platforms that include India-produced vehicles."
Tenneco first established manufacturing in India in 1995 and has grown its operations to now include 1,500 employees at five production plants and two Just-in-Time (JIT) facilities. In addition to Chennai, the company produces emission control components in Halol and Pune. Tenneco’s ride control production is in Bawal, Pune, Hosur, and Puducherry. These facilities serve a growing customer base including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Renault-Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, TVS Motor Company, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, and General Motors.
"We’ve invested more than $20 million in India over the last three years and look forward to supporting our broad base of customers as they expand in this dynamic market," said Sherrill today at a press briefing marking the opening of Tenneco’s Chennai operations. "We are now strongly positioned in India’s three major vehicle producing hubs, which will serve as the foundation for achieving Tenneco’s goal to become the number one emission control and ride control supplier to light vehicle manufacturers in India."
Tenneco is a $4.6 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 21,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker®, Gillet™ and Clevite®Elastomer brand names.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as "expect," "goal" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the company (including its subsidiaries). Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, the company's plans, actions and actual results could differ materially. Among the factors that could cause these plans, actions and results to differ materially from current expectations are: (i) changes in automotive manufacturers' production rates and their actual and forecasted requirements for the company's products; (ii) changes in consumer demand and prices, including decreases in demand for automobiles which include the company's products; (iii) the general political, economic and competitive conditions in markets where the company and its subsidiaries operate; (iv) workforce factors such as strikes or labor interruptions; (v) material substitutions and increases in the costs of raw materials; (vi) the company's ability to develop and profitably commercialize new products and technologies, and the acceptance of such new products and technologies by the company's customers. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
CONTACT:
Media Inquiries
Margie Pazikas
mpazikas@tenneco.com
32 (0) 477226152
Sanjay Bose
sbose@apcoworldwide.com
91 9820808785 (Mumbai)
91 9945266885 (Bangalore)
Jane Ostrander
jostrander@tenneco.com
847 482-5607
Investor Inquiries
Linae Golla
lgolla@tenneco.com
847 482-5162
Media Inquiries
Margie Pazikas
mpazikas@tenneco.com
32 (0) 477226152
Sanjay Bose
sbose@apcoworldwide.com
91 9820808785 (Mumbai)
91 9945266885 (Bangalore)
Jane Ostrander
jostrander@tenneco.com
847 482-5607
Investor Inquiries
Linae Golla
lgolla@tenneco.com
847 482-5162