Auto Parts Asia — August 2017

40 | AutoPartsAsia | AUGUST 2017

in fuel economy. It depends on the

engine configuration and the layout of

the engine in the vehicle.”

“We also give air flow solutions,

using a standard fan drive for

different applications. The fan is a

critical component and we have also

developed an array of fans for diverse

solutions to cater to different market

segments. We will be developing this

more as we move forward. The three

segments are broadly light trucks

and pickups, medium and heavy duty

CVs and the off-highway segment

that consists of agriculture and

construction equipment,” they said.

For the engines to be at optimum

operating temperature, there

should be quick response without

fluctuations from any cooling device,

be it air or water. “That is why there is

need for a system that not only gives

more modulations but can also react

very quickly to temperature change.

This is what you will get with vistronic;

all the inputs from the ECU will be

fed into the control system of the fan

drive,” Wagner said.

“There are two broad classifications

of our products. Heavy duty trucks for

which most of the key components

are localised here and medium

duty trucks for which we have the

actuator manufacturing in-house.

Some engineering components are

imported, about 30 percent. The

production has commenced from

last April. The line that we have for

both actuators and vistronics is

about half a million pieces a year.

The plant here is not only for India

but also for exports - to SE Asia and

Korea. We have been exporting to

Thailand for the last three years, a

bimetal product. We will commence

exports from the Chennai plant from

2018, by which time we would get all

the engineering work done,” Murali

added.

Marketing In India

However, in India marketing is more

reaction-based than being proactive.

“We started off with one OEM two

years ago; in fact the marketing of

vistronics in India began around 2012

when there was some advanced

technology available with additional

fuel efficiency. One or two customers

bought the prototype and tested

it; serious activity started in 2013

where we tested it with one key

customer before bringing vistronics

manufacturing into India. With BS-

IV introduction, other customers

followed through and today we are

working with almost all the OEMs,”

they said.

The OEMs know what they want,

with BS-IV driving them. They have

redefined the work their engines

are supposed to do. Higher heat

rejections mean they are looking

for a better thermal system starting

from the radiator and cooling fan.

Customers have understood it now

and they want it really quickly. “Now

the requests from them are almost

like an avalanche. We have to really

manage our resources to meet

the demand coming in - we have

to strike a balance between being

locally very strong and being globally

connected.”

R & D Perspective

From an R&D perspective

BorgWarner works to identify

opportunities and do a very thorough

market analysis to understand the

potential available. “We support with

our global strength business cases

that are basically driven locally, taking

into account the timing involved. So

we know when trends are coming in

and what is the right time to invest,”

Wagner said.

BorgWarner’s Vision 2020 strategy

will help it reach $15 billion in

revenue by 2020. About the

contribution of the thermal division

to this he said, “Growth comes for

us from economies of scale in the

relevant markets combined with the

concerned environmental maps. We

have the right product at the right

time. Beyond India we are looking at

other regions in the next four years.

From a global view the trend is

electrification, which will drive a lot of

technologies for us to add value to

our products. We have a corporate

team that looks at megatrends for

possible business expansions;

we have had a number of recent

acquisitions to help balance internal

and external growth. The focus is

what you can do organically as new

legislations come in; there is high

potential in the off-highway segment

as also with excavators and tractors.

India has a huge agricultural sector

and moving forward we would be

looking at mega farming that calls for

bigger equipment.”

Asked whether growth would come

more from the Asia-Pacific market

than North America and Europe,

Wagner said, “When you look at an

overall numbers perspective, I don’t

think the number of trucks in North

America will grow dramatically; there

will be steady growth with, maybe,

technology replacement. But in

countries like India and China, given

the numbers you have today, there

is huge potential for the future. Most

trucks use fixed fans, not bimetal

fan drives and going from fixed fan

to vistronic you get about seven

percent better fuel efficiency. So you

don’t have to look at absolute market

growth numbers, just the technology

migration gives you a huge growth

potential.”

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