The braking systems company Brembo has signed an agreement with the Chinese company Safe Brakes Systems to create a joint venture dedicated to the production of anti-lock braking systems (ABS, in jargon) for the Indian motorcycle market.
WHAT THE BREMBO-SAFE JOINT VENTURE WILL DO
The joint venture is called Brsf Active Safety Solutions and is controlled by Brembo, which owns 60 percent of the capital. The company’s operational base will be the factory in Chakan, one of the main hubs of the Indian automotive and motorcycle industry, near Brembo’s plant in Pune.
The factory will employ about fifty people, at least initially, and will be equipped – according to the press release – with “highly advanced and automated assembly lines.”
WHY INDIA
Brembo explained that it intends to focus on the “industrial development” and on the “progressive localization of the supply chain” in India, which represents the largest motorcycle market in the world, with twenty-five million registered vehicles.
The company has been present in the country since 2008 and is involved in the development, production, and sale of braking systems and components for motorcycles under the Bybre brand. It owns two plants – one in Pune and one in Chennai – and employs about 1250 people.
ALL THE PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE CHINESE
The agreement with Safe Brakes Systems is not the first between Brembo and a Chinese company.
Last February, for example, the company controlled by the Bombassei family announced a strategic cooperation pact with the automotive group Jac, with which it had already collaborated on the creation of the luxury electric sedan Maextro S800. More recently, in May, Brembo formed a joint venture with Ningbo Huaxiang Electronic related to Sensify braking technology.
Brembo’s CEO, Daniele Schillaci, had described China as a “strategic market,” being by far the largest automotive market in the world. The company established its first production base there in 2001, in Nanjing: today it owns five plants, a commercial company, and a research and development center (the Inspiration Lab in Shanghai). Brembo’s founder and honorary chairman, Alberto Bombassei, was also president of the Italy-China Foundation from 2018 to 2020.
In 2024 China accounted for over 15 percent of Brembo’s total revenues and recorded a 7.7 percent growth in turnover compared to 2023.
