A year after launching commercial vehicle friction linings under the Ferodo brand, Federal-Mogul has expanded its friction lining product portfolio.

With participation in the Indian automotive aftermarket as well as the OE market, Federal-Mogul Corporation has expanded its friction lining product portfolio in India. The expansion follows exactly a year after the company introduced Ferodo commercial vehicle lining in the Indian aftermarket, made at its new plant in Chennai. The company has further expanded the heavy commercial vehicle friction lining product portfolio under the Ferodo brand. The new addition, also made at the Chennai plant, includes a range of brake linings completely made from non-asbestos material in-line with the company’s focus on producing greener, cleaner and safer products. Special formulations were developed at Federal-Mogul Global R&D facilities to ensure that the friction linings would excel under Indian operating conditions. The friction linings are produced via computer-controlled automation to meet tough standards for uniform quality. Commenting on the expansion of the Ferodo friction lining product portfolio, Sanjeev Singh, Director, Aftermarket, Vehicle Components Segment Group, said, “With the launch of Ferodo CV linings in India we entered the aftermarket friction business. We received very good response. The enhanced portfolio of Ferodo HCV linings is a reflection of our commitment to work towards providing customer and market-centric innovations.”

Also providing a range of Ferodo brake pads for luxury cars, the Chennai manufacturing facility is the eighth and the newest among the facilities Federal-Mogul has come to have in India. The company entered into India in the 1950s through a joint venture with Escorts and its subsidiary, Goetzewerke Friedrich Goetze AG. Growing to have a business turnover of approximately US $250 million, Federal-Mogul serves numerous OEs in India. The product portfolio comprises vehicle powertrain components like pistons, piston rings, engine bearings, ignition and sintered products. Designed and delivered to meet customer, market and regulatory needs according to Andreas Kolf, VP & MD of Federal-Mogul India, the powertrain components help address critical requirements such as improved fuel economy, CO2 emissions reduction, friction reduction and engine downsizing. In the area of pistons and piston rings, the company offers designs that feature optimised gallery locations, advanced coatings and alloy developments to maximise cooling, strength and durability; the range of pistons comprising aluminium diesel and gasoline variety, and monosteel as well as magnum monosteel variety, made from using highly efficient casting and advanced machining manufacturing process technologies.

Federal-Mogul also offers valve seats and guides comprising metal solutions that provide fuel efficiency, scuff resistance and machine-ability. Use of PMF-10E material (Federal-Mogul has considerable expertise in powder metallurgy formulation and processing with dedicated technical centers in UK and USA) not only allows the valve guides to operate at higher temperatures of between 100?C and 200?C without increasing wear between valve stem and guide, they last longer in downsized turbocharged engines. Similarly, the copper infiltrated valve seats based on high-speed steel and wear resistant carbides that are thermally stable at exhaust valve seat operating temperature, deliver up to 50 per cent wear improvement in abrasive EGR diesel environment. A part of Federal-Mogul’s Powertrain business vertical (the other is Vehicle Components), the powertrain components find use in a wide variety of automobiles. The Vehicle Components business vertical, at the other end, sells and distributes a broad portfolio of products in the aftermarket while also serving original equipment vehicle manufacturers. The products are marketed under the brands like ANCO, Champion, AE, Fel-Pro, FP Diesel, Goetze, Glyco, N?ral, Payen and Sealed Power engine products, MOOG, Ferodo, and Wagner.