Mumbai: It’s almost a given now that India is the preferred choice for almost all global automotive players when it comes to software technology development. For example, the software engineering for a big deal of a car cockpit domain controller for an European carmaker is being done by Visteon’s engineers in India, while the hardware part is being done in the USA. The system has no less than 25,000 unique demands, making it sit on the top row of the product category.“Virtually 80%” of Visteon’s software tech development is done out of India. And, as AI (Artificial Intelligence) also begins to enter the car’s cabin, the India base is set to play a more critical role. “We have the center of gravity for hardware in the US, and the center of gravity for software is shifted to India,” says Sachin Lawande, CEO, Visteon, soon after inaugurating a satellite technical centre in Kolkata.
Make in India, to also compete with China
Another agenda for Lawande’s India visit is to finalise plans to have a couple of partners to form joint ventures and further localise its production. Currently, Visteon largely sources imported components to assemble its products in India. “We are going to form some joint ventures with technology companies to bring technology development and manufacturing of critical components to drive cost, to India,” says Lawande.
Visteon expects India, which currently has a 4 million units per annum passenger vehicle market, to grow significantly in the mid-term. Building a local supply chain and manufacturing will be crucial to tap the potential better. “By the end of the decade, we’re looking at a 10 million unit automotive display market of display sizes 10 inches and higher,” says Lawande.
The Visteon India team is being presented a three-pronged goal, to be “the best in the industry when it comes to developing automotive software at scale and at cost and at quality”. A platform approach in product development, and local suppliers for its products are expected to help in reaching this objective.
And, as the global automotive industry looks to compete with the new crop of Chinese players, who are developing new technologies in record development time, Visteon looks to India to help it protect its turf by also competing better against them. Lawande’s visit is to also have discussions with its OEM customers how to compete with the Chinese players, and even drive Visteon India’s team to make the local operations as good as a Chinese supplier’s, also in terms of labs, training facility, and perhaps more importantly, speed. “Those are the challenges that we are kind of gearing up to be able to take on,” says Lawande.
Talent grooming for cultivating new tech
As the global automotive industry gets more technologically intensive, and hyper competitive, industry leaders like Lawande are getting increasingly concerned about ensuring the requisite talent for their respective organisations. Visteon has adopted a strategy of a “Visteon University” to groom talent. Under this initiative, which started “in earnest” in 2022, the tier 1 major has roped in senior technology experts to train 300-500 engineering graduates through virtual classes in its technical centres. “And we’re gearing up to raise that number closer to 1000 each year,” says Lawande.
While accepting the reality of attrition that will invariably happen in his organisation too, Lawande is also cognisant that Visteon, and other players may have to work harder than some highly favoured tech companies like Google, Nvidia, or Amazon. “We would have to do more than what they might be forced to do without the right talent,” he says candidly.
Since the war is set to be fought with technology, and equally over talent, Visteon is also going to new places to tap talent. The Kolkata centre is the fifth satellite technical centre, after the main ones in Chennai and Pune, for the cockpit technology major.
With the new developments, and some major ones round the corner for Visteon, the current phase may be like a India 2.0 strategy for the global major.
