A main element which can be used as a rotor or stator for an electrical machine has a short-circuit ring and radially protruding teeth formed integrally onto the short-circuit ring, which teeth are offset from one another about circumferential angles. To make it possible to press a main element of relatively great axial length of SMC material with the required high material density, the SMC body is subdivided into a plurality of separately manufactured modules, placed against one another in axially aligned fashion, two each of which modules are embodied identically and on being placed against one another are rotated 180° in the plane defined by the module axes. Each separately pressed module, to achieve the required density, has a high aspect ratio, and for pressing the plurality of modules, only two press molds are required.