Autolite to focus on two-wheeler segment with its signature products
Autolite India Limited, the flagship company of the Autopal-MPG group, will expand its horizon in the twowheeler segment. The growth of the automotive industry in India is detailed as 80% in twowheeler market, 15% in passenger car segment and 5% in the commercial vehicle segment. In line with that the company has tuned its objectives and widened the two-wheeler network. The company’s current presence is in the halogen bulbs in the twowheeler aftermarket segment and it is very insignificant. But plans are sketched to widen its scope for two-wheeler business.
Speaking to AutoComponents
India, Adarsh Mahipal Gupta, Director, Autolite India Limited, stated, “We are predominantly serving the commercial vehicle segment. About 75% of our business caters to the commercial vehicles and 20% to passenger cars and 5% to the two-wheeler segment. But the market statistics corresponding to growth is viceversa.
Hence we need to leap forward in the two-wheeler segment. We target to increase our sales from 5% to 20% in this segment and plan to increase the number of distributors. We have tied up with TVS Motor Company and the group companies of TVS are selling our products. In addition to bulbs which we have currently, we plan to get into head lamps, tail lamps, indicators, blinkers in the two-wheeler market for the Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor Company, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) and Bajaj Auto.”
The company not only plans aftermarket products for the domestic supply but also targets to export all these products. In OE side in two-wheeler, it does present in the bulbs and sketches its expansion in head lamps. It has also started supplying prototypes of LEDs for the two-wheeler but it is too early to explain about the topic, the manufacturer stated. There are a lot of unorganised players in the two-wheeler market, thanks to demonetisation, the market is now sailing in the digital sea getting organised. “We also expect some reforms based on the GST implementation. We foresee that all two-wheeler will be LED-driven in a year or two extrapolating the statistical figures. The LED technology is also getting affordable day by day,” opined Gupta.
The company also remarked that 6-7 years from now the entire passenger cars and commercial vehicle segment will be LEDdriven. As of now the day time running lamps are almost LED driven in all passenger cars and commercial vehicles. “We have recently grabbed a Rs 480-crore worth project from Tata Motors. There is an upcoming commercial vehicle from Tata Motors in
which the tail lamp will be embellished with LED. We are the single supplier for the same. We also have bagged orders from Mahindra and Tata Motors for other vehicles,” Gupta said.
LED has exhibited its presence in the Indian market in the day time running lights, indicators, blinkers and now tip-toes to the tail lamps. Inasmuch as head lamp it will come but the cost factor and technology has to be huge in this division. Controlling of light is critical in the head lamps and it is of the utmost use in the vehicle. The technology has to headway and advanced LEDs have to be in place. Normal LEDs cannot withstand the heat generation and failure of LEDs might occur. Advanced LEDs has to be installed which will extort additional money for head lamps to be LED-driven in today’s scenario in the Indian market. But the company has sent prototype samples and the discussion needs to be postponed for sometime said Gupta. Tail lamps, indicators, daylight running lights are simple LEDs and it is easy to embrace the LED technology in these splits. Also in general the consumption of energy will be one-sixth of the halogen and HID bulbs. Safety is the paramount attribute everywhere and the company gives solutions in 2 areas, technology and training. The dazzling effect is the main reason behind a lot of accidents. The company has ‘auto-dipping’ technology developed for headlights. This technology is optional where it automatically reduces the intensity of the glow when it senses the vehicle approaches towards with the help of sensors fitted inside. This technology is an aftermarket serve as OEMs stopped investing in the old technologies. The company’s growth in the aftermarket segment is 40% year –on- year to highlight.
On the training front, the company conducts awareness programmes on spurious products. The unorganised segment is replete with mechanics and in all the vehicles drivers are taking responsibility for the replacement of the damaged products. Hence it is necessary to educate the drivers, the mechanics and the fleet owners. The company is conducting campaigns with dedicated team in the service centres and set specific targets to educate the laymen on the counterfeits and Chinese-makes.
The company claims that it is the one which has pioneered simulation technologies in India. As and when required the simulation software is sourced from the solution provider like Ansys and simulates and tests its products. Not only does it simulate but also goes for road testing to endorse the reliability of its products.
Autopal-MPG group has recognised research and development centres in Jaipur, Pantnagar and Pune. The manufacturer stated that the work currently in its R&D is ‘auto dipping’ headlamp technology but the majority of its R&D efforts goes into battery segment. The company has sketched plans to manufacture lithium ion batteries in India. The process is half the way now and production is expected to commence from the next fiscal year. Basically the battery manufacturing goes in 2 stages like cell manufacturing and battery packaging. Accordingly the company has built up capacities for the same in Jaipur and Gurgaon. It also works on LED front lighting which is similar to the Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS) technology.
“We are also manufacturing electric vehicles. One of our products is electric rickshaw for which the battery is sourced from outside. We are working on Lithium ion battery manufacturing and we are expecting to embark on the production very soon. With normal batteries, it is expected to run the vehicle for 80-90 kms and with Li battery we can reach up to 130 kms,” highlighted Gupta.
The company has reported a turnover of Rs 350 crore in the automotive segment and 75% of its turnover comes from commercial vehicles, 20% from the passenger cars and 5% from the two-wheeler market. The battery market is amazingly greater and it is approximately Rs 30,000 crore market in the automotive side. “With the electric vehicles getting operationalised in a mass scale we could clinch Rs 1000 crore very easily and with the battery manufacturing in place the turnover will scale high leaps and bounds,” stated Gupta.