WABCO has been one of the most dependable and successful suppliers of safety, technology and connectivity systems in the CV industry worldwide and has replicated its global success in the Indian market over the last many years. Industry veteran Mr. P. Kaniappan, Managing Director, WABCO India, remains optimistic while sharing his views on the BS-VI era.
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Market impact
Switching over to BS-VI, the industry will take another step in the right direction to bridge the gap and be on par with the European and American markets in terms of the emission norms. BS-VI migration would necessitate the switch to cleaner fuel. As the vehicles and the technology in the BS-VI regime would be on par with the global standards, this will be opening up numerous opportunities to export for both the OEMs and the auto component industry in general.
WABCO’s readiness
For WABCO India, what it means is the air consumption in the vehicle would increase for the treatment of the exhaust gases, thereby driving a need for larger size compressors on these vehicle platforms. Retarders would have to be redesigned to cater to the higher operating temperatures and precise control that is mandated to meet the BS-VI norms.
We are currently working with various OEMs to introduce various advanced technologies as value enhancers along with BS-VI introduction like hill start aid (HSA), Automatic Traction Control (ATC), Air Disc Brakes (ADB), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), and Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).
Cost implications
WABCO India is working with various OEMs to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by proposing suitable value enhancers and by providing better uptime for the fleets through connectivity and diagnostic solutions. Post GST and Increased axle load norms, the fleets are essentially looking at increased vehicle utilization and optimizing their total cost of ownership. In this regard, WABCO’s advanced solutions including our AMT solution, FMS and TPMS, would support the fleets to improve efficiency and better manage their costs.
The logistics cost in India is very high at present when compared with other developed markets globally. While the government has committed to reduce the logistics cost by improving infrastructure, adoption of more tractor-trailer combinations can also help optimize logistics cost. In this context, WABCO along with key OEMs will work with the government to upgrade the trailer industry to global standards.
Challenges
The onset of BS-VI requires a paradigm shift in the thought process of the fleet owners from the initial cost model to the total cost of ownership model. The ability of the fleet owners to better understand and assimilate BS-VI technology is the second challenge. Imparting training to upskill the drivers across the country to increase their know-how on the increasing electronic systems in the commercial vehicle is the third challenge. Notwithstanding this, the maintenance of SCR is of paramount importance in the new BS-VI regime. Understanding this need WABCO has introduced Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) to maintain the efficiency of the SCR.
This change will necessitate the large vehicle population currently being serviced via the unorganized sector to get streamlined into the organized sector thereby an impetus is required to improve the service capabilities. In the regard, leveraging our fleet solutions and service network we are partnering with all the major OEMs. We are gearing up to better serve the end customer through our pan India service network with over 7,000 touchpoints across the country.
Opportunities
With BS-VI we will be bridging the technology gap with the EU and US markets, so we have opportunities for the global market. This will help make Automotive Mission Plan 2026 a reality. The service industry will have to become more organized and this would pave way for numerous opportunities for established players in the market. Thirdly consolidation of fleets and emergence of mega fleets will be the trend going forward and they will be more focused on TCO and would be looking towards adopting advanced technologies to bring down the same.
Outlook
WABCO always views India with a positive outlook for the long term. In the near term, we are having challenges as the industry is going through a downturn and many tier-I companies are also going through the same. We are however working rigorously to tide over the situation.