Todd Morgan
Automotive systems major Varroc Group’s lighting division has been aggressive in the Indian market with special focus given to latest technologies. Varroc Lighting Systems India ( VLS) is gearing up to support the OEMs emerging requirements by developing
How do you see the demand for LEDs specially in automotive segment in India? Morgan: Cost of LEDs has dropped drastically. I t is all about st yling and develop a nice signature. Yes, it is power saving and cost saving, but in the end it is more about styling. LED headlamps are cheaper than xenon today. The only issue right now is the leveling requirement which is in I ndia, which may still have 25W HID bulbs. 35W requires leveling, 25W does not, but LEDs always require leveling. You can have a low per forming LED headlamp, same as halogen, and you still need leveling which does not make any sense. Regulations need to be rewritten and addressed to remove those barriers that allow us to have cheaper technology with better per formance and great styling. There is an effor t to reduce traffic fatalities by 50% and the only way to change this is by changing regulations. Day time running lamp is also ver y important aspect of lighting. I t is not a requirement in I ndia, however it is a signature item and a safety improvement. I t must be made mandator y. Mahindra has already embraced the signature item with its new XUV500. In commercial vehicles, we have customers in Volvo Eicher and Tata for Prima world truck . CVs have different requirements without any question. I t is a big market in I ndia and is ver y interesting too. As this market moves towards more styling with plastic lenses, that is what is our strength. We understand special vibration and heat requirements. Ser viceability is big deal for commercial vehicles and different k ind of voltage is needed for them.
How important is India for you as a market in terms of new product development and sustainability? Morgan: My philosophy is to have full development responsibility. I want engineers touch par ts and feel their responsibilit y especially in I ndia. Therefore, we will be soon opening a technical centre in Pune ver y soon. On the flip side, I also want to take the Indian approach of cutting cost and apply the logical approach in Europe. So, an optical guy in Nor th America and an electronics guy here in I ndia work ing on another program should feel their global responsibility. Having those guys involved on real design responsibility on global programs, that approach will accelerate our ability to have better technology in I ndia. This will provide better balance to our approach and will be our strength going for ward. I t is ver y easy to have matrix and laser program and having that leading edge technology is fantastic. The majority of the automotive business is on the main stream. Lets be realistic. We can put laser headlamps on ever y car but we can star t moving LED technology into the main stream. And having that ability to have better k nowledge of the technology, using the Indian mentality to drive out cost while respecting the countr y ’s regulations. Moving for ward, we need to remove barriers for technology and implement safety feature programs here in I ndia.
Give us a brief about R&D at VLS? Morgan: We have one R&D centre each in Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, Michigan, China. The one in I ndia will take the total number to 6. We have a manufacturing facility in Pune where we have already exhausted the space. We need heavy equipments like vibration tables in labs that we will develop and we can’t just put it into any office building. We have to find the right facility which will be our phase