ZF Group inaugurated an Electric Park Brake (EPB) production line for its passenger car business at its Oragadam manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, marking a formal scale-up of advanced braking system manufacturing in India. The development expands the company’s passenger car braking footprint as Indian vehicle programmes increasingly adopt electronically controlled and software-enabled architectures.
The inauguration transitions EPB production at Oragadam into full industrialisation, positioning India as a manufacturing and engineering base for safety-critical braking technologies within ZF’s global network. The company said the move aligns with the shift toward electric, connected and software-defined passenger vehicles in the Indian market.
ZF’s EPB systems are already being supplied to Indian original equipment manufacturers and are integrated into recently launched all-electric passenger vehicles. With the commissioning of the dedicated production line, the company said India will support both domestic demand and global supply requirements for electronically controlled parking brake systems.
The EPB production line at Oragadam has a designed peak capacity of 800,000 units annually. ZF said the line is supported by an expanding local supplier ecosystem providing precision mechanical and electronic components, enabling higher levels of localisation for advanced braking systems.
“This localisation effort advances ZF’s ‘Make in India for India and the World’ strategy,” said Akash Passey, President, ZF Group India. “This is a start of our growth story in India for serving domestic OEM demand while strengthening India’s role as a global supply hub for advanced braking systems,” Passey said.
“As vehicle architecture evolves, braking systems are transitioning from mechanical assemblies to software-enabled safety technologies,” said Peter Holdmann, Board of Management member at ZF Group and head of the Chassis Solutions division. He said the Electric Park Brake replaces conventional mechanical parking brakes with electronically controlled systems optimised for electric and software-defined vehicles, offering lower drag, reduced noise, vibration and harshness, and efficiency benefits.
“Producing EPB systems in Oragadam enables us to serve Indian OEMs with state-of-the-art electronically controlled braking systems while supporting global programs — a core element of our ‘Make in India for India and the World’ strategy,” added Peter Holdmann, Board of Management member at ZF Group and head of the Chassis Solutions division.
Andreas Moser, Member of the Board of Management for the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions and the India region, said the Oragadam EPB line reflects ZF’s approach to addressing local demand with globally deployed technologies, while supporting a shift toward value-based requirements from OEMs.
The Oragadam facility is a multi-divisional manufacturing site and a key part of ZF’s India growth roadmap. It serves as an expansion plant for light commercial vehicle operations of the group in India and is separate from ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Ltd and its subsidiaries.
ZF said the EPB is integrated into broader braking architectures, enabling functions such as dynamic actuation, emergency braking support and brake pad wear sensing across passenger car and light commercial vehicle platforms. Globally, the company has deployed more than 250 million EPB callipers, and the Oragadam line strengthens its ability to manufacture these systems at scale.
