ZF becomes majority stakeholder in Indian JV with Rane Group

The Rane ZF Trichy plant. The JV is now renamed ZF Rane Automotive India.

Global technology company ZF has increased its equity shares to become the majority shareholder with 51 percent in the Rane TRW Steering Systems joint venture from the Rane Group.

Till date, both partners held equal shares in the company, which employs around 3,400 people. In the future, the joint venture will operate on the market under the name ZF Rane Automotive India. The renaming is reflective of the enhanced cooperation between the partners. 

“India is a very important market for ZF, and we want to grow sustainably here,” says Dr. Holger Klein, Member of the Board of Management (BOM), ZF Group. “By acquiring a majority stake from our long-standing partner Rane, we aim to further expand both our passenger car and commercial vehicle business for our customers in the India region.” 

This JV will further enhance the abilities of the partners to offer newer technologies, expedite new product introductions, and localization with Rane Group as a strategic partner to leverage competence, in line with ZF’s Refresh India strategy. 

Commenting on the enhanced cooperation,  Harish Lakshman, Vice-Chairman, Rane Group and Managing Director, Rane TRW Steering Systems said, “Our relationship with ZF has gone from strength-to-strength over the past 35 years and the transfer of 1% to ZF is a major step in taking the relationship to the next level. We look forward to bring superior technology matching the customer requirements.” 

Suresh KV, President ZF India, stated, “The complementary nature of the partners has been the hallmark of this JV which has resulted in the organisation performing consistently over the years. Supporting the Indian customer base with ZF engineering and technology along with the customer connect and operations excellence of Rane will continue to be the goal of this JV in future.”

The JV was founded in 1987 by Rane and TRW to produce steering systems for commercial vehicles. In 1997, the company added occupant protection systems for passenger cars. With the acquisition of TRW in 2015, ZF Group became a co-owner of the company, which now produces steering gears, airbags and seat belt systems at five locations in India. Most recently, the two partners opened the new occupant protection systems plant in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Tamil Nadu, in 2019.

ZF in India

In India, ZF is one of the leading suppliers of technology solutions and services that is shaping mobility trends in the country. The Group has been operating on the subcontinent for over six decades.
ZF operations in India are through three subsidiaries, four JV partners, and eight engineering centres. The regional headquarter, ZF India, is a multi-product facility based at Chakan in Pune. With a strong presence that has steadily grown to 18 manufacturing locations across India, ZF also provides a wide range of spare parts for automotive products from SACHS, LEMFÖRDER, TRW, and WABCO with robust service support through its ZF Aftermarket division.

The ZF Group supplies high-end technology products, such as transmissions, axle systems, chassis and suspension components for the CV segment in India. In addition, ZF also supports the Light Vehicle industry with powertrain, chassis and safety devices.  The technology centers of ZF in India have a strong focus in the emerging fields of Electric Mobility, Autonomous Driving, Vehicle Motion Control, electronics, embedded software, and mechanical engineering. With these centers across the country, ZF in India provides strong local mechanical design and application engineering support to domestic OEMs for product development. 

ZF in India employs more than 13,000 people, including its JV partners.