26 | AutoPartsAsia | FEBRUARY 2018T
he geographical spread of
various types of vehicles from
the metros and big towns to
far flung places in all the 640
districts in India, and their variety -
two-and-three-wheelers, cars, trucks,
buses, SUVs, which is one of the
fastest growing segments, offshore
vehicles and a little bit of marine - have
been very rapid and on a very big
scale. Do this mind-boggling variety of
models and their increasing numbers
unnerve the aftermarket players?
S Muralidharan, President, Lucas
Indian Service Limited (LIS), told
AutoParts Asia, that there is a real
challenge as the number of spare parts
needed for these increasing models
is something no normal distributor
can handle. The change in vehicle
technology also is baffling.“We have carburettor cars, multi-point
fuel injection cars, large cars with
common rail, and small cars with
common rail. The industry is at the
cusp of change where two or three
generations of technologies co-exist,”
he said.This is a phenomenon seldom found in
any other industry. There are old inline
pumps still in diesel tractors, and rotary
pumps in certain types of Mahindra
vehicles and JCB earth movers. Also,
there are very new common rail for the
new range of cars and any range of
trucks.
“This is going to be a challenge for
the whole market. As we go up the
value chain, we find that the traditional
garages are the worst hit. The people
there do not have the skill to cope with
the variety of equipment nor the money
to buy all the necessary tools andstock all the parts. Garages now need
even diagnostic equipment to find out
problems in a car as it has become
an electronics entity on the move,” he
said.
Coupled with this transformation are
the changing and biting legislations.
There was the clamour for BS-IV just
a few months ago. Now there is the
timeline for BS-VI. India is one of the
few countries that will go directly to
BS-VI skipping BS-V. Therefore, in
2020, there will be BS –I, II and III
vehicles for service. BS-IV vehicles will
also be needing service while BS-VI
vehicles will be under warranty repairs.
It is amazing for anyone to deal with
such variety in mobility technology and
products.
At the same time there will be
increased safety consciousness across
the industry and consumers. This will
lead to new and better products like
LED lights, preference for better qualitymaterials, and use of safety gadgets
like seat belts, ABS and ESP.
The next set of disruption is purely
‘adjacent technologies,’ Muralidharan
said. Who would have thought Google
would want to make a car, or Tesla
to make a truck with brake pads
that would last a lifetime? There is
automatic intelligence in most kinds
of vehicles; various Apps are available
that tell the driver how many kilometres
he can go before the fuel runs out,
the distance to the nearest service
station or how much life is left in the
vehicle. The net result is all adjacent
technologies can come into vehicles,
giving rise to an incredibly informed
customer who knows exactly when
to go for the service and its cost; he
cannot be taken for a ride.
This is a clear indication of market
consolidation and elimination of the
unorganised players. It will also, to a
great extent, put an end to the businessCOVER STORY
On Vehicle Diagnosis