Established in 1972, Kristl, Seibt & Co GmbH (KS Engineers) is a reputed player in the field of automotive testing equipments, offering different high-tech equipments related to engine, chassis and complete vehicle testing. Headquartered in Austria and with a workforce of 280 employees, it has achieved a turnover of Euro 45 million in 2012. It has two fully owned subsidiaries in Germany and India.
At an informal discussion with MOTORINDIA on the sidelines of SIAT 2013 organised by ARAI in Pune recently, Dr. Wolfram Rossegger, Managing Director, Automotive Test Engineering, Kristl, Seibt & Co., said the acceptability of the company products is indeed very high. In order to provide efficient after-sales service to customers, the Indian subsidiary was set up in 2002. Among the different factors driving its growth in India is the customised solutions offered by the company.
In the medium term, the company has plans to establish local assembly within the next two years in order to indigenise the product to meet local demand.
Since the commercial vehicle segment is passing through revolutionary changes at the global level, the company has its special focus on the CV segment. It already supplies its automotive testing equipments to leading European commercial vehicle manufacturers, including Daimler and MAN. More than 30 per cent of its revenue comes from the CV segment.
According to Mr. BHK Prasad, Director, Kristl Seibt India Pvt. Ltd., the company started its Indian operations in 1995 in the 2-wheeler-segment by importing testing equipments from Austria. Initially it had only three customers. Today the number has gone up to 24. The leading OEMs receiving supplies of automotive testing equipments for R&D applications include TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Cummins.