Global market leader in exhaust systems geared up to support OE customers with proven solutions
Faurecia Clean Mobility is a global leader in providing exhaust system solutions for light and commercial vehicles and high horsepower engines. The French company has been contributing towards cutting down vehicular emissions in the country since 1997. While the Indian market’s move to BS-IV in 2017 gave a huge boost to Faurecia’s business in the country, the company is excited and geared up for the next big leap, the transition to BS-VI in April 2020.
Talking exclusively to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Frank Daufenbach, VP – Strategy, Marketing and Light vehicles Product Line, Faurecia Clean Mobility, says: “The Indian market’s move to BS-VI is an important step forward for Faurecia. We are really impressed with the way the Indian market implemented BS-IV and how committed the Government has been to improving the air quality; this is something that we want to support as much as we can. Our job at Faurecia is to help our OE customers achieve the expected level of performance on the emission side. We have already obtained a significant market share, and are always looking to expand to further expand our customer base in the market.”
Globally, the commercial vehicle segment contributes only close to 15 per cent of Faurecia’s revenues, with the passenger car segment accounting for a much larger chunk. In India, the Clean Mobility solution provider is keen on making the most of the exciting opportunity in store.
Asia to drive growth
Faurecia has a well spread out footprint in India that includes production facilities and a world-class Technical Centre. Mr. Eric Nicole, Global Engineering Director for Commercial Vehicles and High Horsepower applications, Faurecia Clean Mobility, shares: “We have our Technical Centre in Bangalore, a Centre of Excellence that provides support towards CFD and durability calculation to our teams in different parts of the world and also works closely with our global design team. In terms of production facilities, we have three plants in Pune, which make BS-IV today and BS-VI tomorrow systems, Bangalore and Chennai, all strategically located close to our customers.”
Faurecia’s revenues are fairly balanced from a geographical point of view. Roughly one-third of its revenues come from the North American region, another one-third from Europe and the rest from Asia. However, given the fact that the Asian market, driven by the impending onset of new emission regulations in China and India, is poised to see burgeoning growth, Faurecia expects the region to be its top contributor in terms of growth.
“In terms of growth, Asia is a faster growing market, especially keeping in mind the upcoming BS-VI and China-VI regulations in India and China respectively. Over the next five years, we see a lot of growth coming from the Asian region”, states Mr. Daufenbach.
Leveraging global expertise
Based on its global expertise, Faurecia Clean Mobility has come up with products and components for emission control systems that are fully equipped to meet the stringent emission norms applicable in India and other developing markets.
Mr. Nicole explains: “We are ready with our BS-VI product that will be launched with our OE customers in 2020. We have proven products that have achieved the same level of performance in North America and Europe, so we are very confident that we will be successful in India. For the BS-VI system in India, we will supply the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) inlet, the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) and the SCR system.
The Indian market’s move to BS-VI has triggered interest from many global suppliers of exhaust systems who are all looking to be part of the India growth story. How does Faurecia plan to stand out from the rest? Mr. Daufenbach responds: “In commercial vehicles, we are number two globally, and light vehicles we are number one; overall we are number one in the world in providing exhaust system solutions. This gives us a lot of expertise, customer relationships and technological edge that we can leverage for the Indian market. The technology already exists in other markets, but it has to be improved and optimized for India. We are in a great position to do that because we are already serving North America and Europe on a very competitive basis. We have a long history in India, we are very ambitious and are investing a lot in the market. The way we invest in India shows how much we believe in the market, and considering our existing customer relationships around the world and global scale, we think we can be very successful in India.”
Gearing up for hybrid & electric
Looking beyond solutions for IC engine vehicles, Faurecia is also gearing up for the two key global megatrends – hybridization and electrification. Faurecia is investing heavily in fuel cell technology and believes the technology has a great future, particularly for CV applications.
He further explains: “While hybridization gives us an opportunity to add to our existing systems, electrification is an opportunity for us to explore new product lines and technologies. On the electrification side, fuel cells could be the next big thing. Batteries have limitations for bigger applications in terms of range of operation, power delivery and refueling time, all of which fuel cells can manage efficiently. Fuel cells offer advantages that are complementary to batteries which is why we are investing in developing solutions for both battery packs and fuel cells. The tank for H2 is a key component of a fuel cell system. We are investing massively in this area by leveraging our knowledge in composites to make efficient tanks at an attractive price and build a value proposition for fuel cells. We are also working on fuel cell stacks. We believe we can offer a very good value proposition for fuel cell technology and look forward to supporting our customers with suitable solutions”.