CKD unit likely to be set up next year
Asian Auto Aircon, founded in 1972, is a renowned player in the field of automobile air-conditioning and transport refrigeration. The Kolkata-based company began operations by catering to the small passenger car segment and later shifted its focus to air-conditioning systems for commercial vehicles, including buses, trucks, containers, caravans and special vehicles in 2005.
The company specialises in sales and marketing, installation, consultation and aftersales service of air-conditioning systems from leading manufacturers in China, Singapore, Thailand and Korea. In the bus air-conditioning segment, it is India’s exclusive authorized agent for Guchen products. Guchen is one of the leading manufacturers of air-conditioning systems for buses and coaches. Headquartered at Zhengzhou in China, it is one of the largest air-conditioning manufacturers globally, producing close to 60,000 units per annum. Leading bus manufacturer Yutong of China is among Guchen’s many OEM customers.
In order to maintain a single face to its customers in the Indian market, Asian Auto Aircon has branded all its products, including bus air-conditioning systems and truck refrigeration units and relevant spares, as ‘Asian Auto Aircon’. Offering a range of products and solutions under one common umbrella, the company is optimistic about the Indian market, particularly the bus air-conditioning segment.
Says Mr. Samir Parekh, Managing Director, Asian Auto Aircon: “We have had a good experience in the Indian bus AC market which is growing rapidly. Nearly a decade ago, air-conditioning in buses was considered a luxury but it is slowly becoming a necessity. The segment has been growing since 2005 and is really going to develop in a big way in the next 10 years. We are very optimistic about the segment and are looking forward to working with a lot of customers.”
Product penetration
Asian Auto Aircon has delivered products for inter-city buses, tourist coaches, school buses and other types of buses. It also makes air-conditioning units for caravans, mobile blood banks, mobile coronary care units (CCUs) and special purpose vehicles. In terms of cooling capacity, the company offers products from 3 KW to 45 KW, and in terms of vehicle length it covers a range spanning 2 m to 14 m. “We believe we can air-condition anything on wheels”, quips Mr. Parekh.
In the truck refrigeration segment, with the number of reefer trucks gradually increasing on Indian roads, there is a huge opportunity for companies like Asian Auto. The company is focused on expanding its presence in the segment as it hopes to sell a good number of units in the coming years.
The company initially started with double-digit annual sales which has steadily risen over the years. In 2011-2012, it sold close to 250 air-conditioning units for buses and trucks while it targets a 500 unit-mark by the end of 2014.
Asian Auto Aircon’s customers in the bus segment include bus body builders and private fleet operators. It is vigorously trying to penetrate into the highly competitive OEM segment. “We expect a breakthrough in the OEM segment soon as our products are already under testing. We should have some good news by the end of this year when we would be able to disclose the name of the company”, he adds.
Asian Auto presently imports its products directly from China and plans to establish a CKD facility in India in 2014. It has started scouting for a suitable location, with Ahmedabad being a probable choice. Once the facility is up and running, some of the parts would be localized while the critical components will continue to be sourced.
The company currently has its head office is Kolkata and a sales and marketing office in Ahmedabad. With a total of around 35 dealers across the country, Asian Auto has at least two dealers at key locations such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Trichy. The dealer network takes care of the sales and marketing as well as the complete aftersales support across all regions in the country.
Demand-supply approach
Asian Aircon’s four decades of experience in the Indian market gives it a good understanding of the country’s climatic conditions and enables it to deliver products in line with the market demand. The company provides inputs regarding product design to its overseas partners to ensure that the products are designed, developed and manufactured to suit the Indian conditions. “We derive inputs from the customer feedback, product output and on-road performance of the products under typical working conditions, and work on enhancing our products with the results. We have been working on R&D for product enhancement since 2005 and now we are ready with perfectly suitable products for India”, Mr. Parekh concludes.
With nearly a dozen players competing in the field of mobile air-conditioning, Asian Auto has adopted a strategy of providing customer-focused products and services to drive growth. It considers the right balance between product pricing and quality as its major USP, apart from the two-year product guarantee it offers. Also, its aftersales service support and availability of spares in the aftermarket have given it a distinct edge in the market. The company focuses on quality service to gain customer confidence, an aspect which has paved way for rapidly expanding its customer base over the years.
On the export front, Asian Auto has started supplies to the Bangladesh market and has received enquiries from the UAE, Doha, Qatar and a few other Middle East countries.