The Powertrain R&D Center of Hyundai Motor Company has completed development of a new, more fuel efficient and cleaner diesel engine for compact passenger vehicles. Displacing 1,582cc, the U2 is an inline four cylinder engine which utilizes second generation common rail diesel injection system to deliver class-leading performance, a fuel economy rating of 4.7 L/100km, low emissions (125g CO2 /km) and is compliant with the latest Euro4 emission standards. 

By combining their advanced engineering know-how with state-of-the-art technologies such as a variable geometry turbocharger, a variable swirl control system and an electronically controlled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooling system, the U2 development team was able to successfully optimize the ports and combustion chambers. The optional particulate filter reduces particulate matter to Euro 5 standards which take effect next year. The first car to have the U2 engine installed will be the successor model of the Getz, the all-new i20 sub–compact. The i20, due to be launched in Europe towards the end of 2008, will be produced at Hyundai Motor Co’s Indian subsidiary in Chennai.

Kuka Robotics (India) has launched a new arc welding solution. A 100 per cent subsidiary of Kuka Roboter GmbH of Germany, Kuka India displayed the new arc welding solution at the recent Automation 2008 fair held in Mumbai and based on its KR 16 model. The KR 16 was displayed with the Kuka Positioner DKP-400 (which can carry a job of around 400 kg for welding). The robot and the positoner work in sync to get the job welded effectively and very fast. This is a typical application and Kuka has proved its technical superiority of this application worldwide over and over again. 

At Automation 2008 the company also displayed a KR210 applied in a typical material handling application (a most common application in every industry worldwide), and is the same as the widely used robots at Tata Motors and other OEM’s. Kuka, which is claimed to have received a order from Volkswagen for its plant at Chakan near Pune has supplied its solutions to a number of automakers in India. The company has managed to install 600 robots in a span of two years. 

To provide the needed support and service, Kuka, a year ago established a training centre at Pune, which is considered to be one of the best facilities outside Germany. Kuka's clientele in India includes a number of leading auto and other industrial corporations like M&M, Reliance industries, Ashok Leyland, Bhel and Hyundai India. While Hyundai is also said to have been supplied with robots for its new plant at Sriperambudur, the company, supplied 300 industrial robots to Tata, which aid the manufacture of a range of new products. Especially the New Tata Indica, Sumo Grande and the Xenon. 

With the new solutions displayed at Automation 2008, Kuka (India) aims to establish its strong position in the Indian Market, which is one of the world’s fastest growing robot markets. Customer and market proximity are a requirement and key to the success of Kuka Roboter GmbH. This is the only way of establishing relationships that lead to the innovative solutions for the future. The Kuka product range extends from a payload capacity of five to 1,000 kilograms. Courtesy the KUKA modular system, six basic models can currently be produced in more than 250 variants tailored to the customer’s requirements: with longer or shorter axes, for example, or as a shelf-mounted robot.

Hyundai Motor India has upped the production at its Sriperambudur plant by 62 per cent to meet the rising demand for its cars, especially the i10. The company has started the third shift of operations at its new plant, which started in February this year, and is dedicated largely to the production of the i10. 

Since its launch in October 2007, sales of this popular compact car have reached 172,000 units in less than one year of its launch and, with the third shift in operation, the daily unit production has gone up from 800 to 1300, a 62 per cent jump, to help meet demand.