Experts debate on innovation and auto growth

Innovation has a positive impact on the growth of the automotive industry. Automotive leaders and experts unanimously agreed that the Indian automotive industry has to embrace and adopt different innovative ways to stay ahead of competition.

At an International Conference on Revolutionising the Auto Industry, “the impact of innovation at the growth curve,” different automotive experts gave their opinion on the strong synergy between innovation and growth in the automotive industry.

A CII-Roland Berger Report – Mobility 2025 was released at the Inaugural session of the conference. The report includes the key levers for new mobility solutions and the new ecosystem for automotive and non-automotive players.

 Sunil Kant Munjal, Past President CII & Joint Managing Director, Hero Motocorp  highlighted the urgency for being flexible when it comes to thinking about new business models for the auto industry. He said the industry needs to be able to cater to a younger generation which would be cost sensitive.  

Vijay Sethi, Vice President and CIO, Hero MotoCorp noted that mankind is at the pinnacle of technological advancements where a lot of R&D done in the auto sector has filtered into other aspects of daily life. The new and innovative trends to arise in the automotive landscape, according to him, are through social media marketing, mobility, analytics and cloud sourcing of ideas. Rajiv Gandhi, Executive Director (Plants), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. emphasised on innovation through a technology driven change.

Dr. Naveen Gautam, Managing Director – Hella Automotive highlighted the fact that the major area of concern for most auto manufacturers today is how to be more environment friendly. This in turn set the stage for auto giants BMW and Ford to show case their ground breaking research in the field of green technology. Vinod Pandey, GM, BMW India said his company had earlier this year at the Auto Expo 2014 showcased their i8 car which clearly demonstrated the fact that the company was executing and improving standards for a lighter and more energy efficient vehicle.  

Raj Sarkar, VP-Marketing, Ford India, said that his company on the other hand has a more realistic approach to a green and safety driven auto environment. He said Ford has for the past 6-7 years been testing their FARV (Ford Automated Test Vehicle) mounted with LiDAR sensors which uses light and sound to create a 3D map of the environment increasing the safety and reducing human error. Ford has also been developing and testing vehicular connectivity technology to improve and M2M (Machine to Machine) communication increasing collision avoidance.

DB Schenkar India Managing Director Reiner Allgeier spoke about the innovative solutions being provided by them such as the “sky-bridge” which can be used to cut down on logistics time by almost 50pc using freight modes of air and waterways coordinated over a vast network. An insight into what is to come in the future of automotive technology was provided by Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group.  He stated the development and testing of a new predictive collision avoidance system to come to India in a few years along with the Auxiliary Drivers Assistance System, with a focus on light weight hybrid vehicles using aerodynamic technology to improve fuel efficiency and promote the green concept in the India frontier. 

Although many of the auto giants are developing and testing new innovative technologies to make cars safer, greener and automated, it all boils down to policy. Will the Indian government be able to set up and deliver the infrastructure required to place electric, greener and connected vehicles on the road? Ajay Sarkar, Member secretary National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Government of India, believes that the Indian government should begin ‘cash for clunkers’ programme where old vehicles are removed from the road and a new vehicle leasing policy put in place, a strategy which was popular in the west. 

For a long period of time the automotive industry has been the key driver for our country’s GDP. A 25pc growth in the auto sector in the next two years can drive a growth of 9-10pc in the country’s GDP. With the phased removal of subsidies on diesel, the focus now turns to LNG enabled trucks and buses which will be hitting Indian roads in a big way by next year, stated Ajay Shankar, Member Secretary, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council.

The various sessions during the conference had presentations from companies like Ford India, BMW India, Hero MotoCorp, Siemens Industry Software, JBM Group, ZF Hero Chassis Systems, Rockwell Automations, Kuka Robotics, Schneker India, SAP India, and Hella Automotive India. The conference was attended by over 200 delegates from across the country.