Global Tier 1 automotive company Visteon is planning its next round of investments for the Indian market. The company is planning to invest around USD 20 million to localise backlight manufacturing in India.
Speaking to TOI, Sachin Lawande, president & CEO, Visteon Corporation said: “Currently we are making plans for backlight manufacturing localisation in India and we will probably need about USD 20 million investment for that. This project will be decided and commissioned this year and we’re in the process of figuring out whether it should be in Chennai or elsewhere because we probably need to invest in a second manufacturing base,” he added.
The new facility is part of Visteon’s overall plans for the Indian market, particularly in the cockpit electronics segment. “India is going to be our first market where we’re investing in vertical integration of display manufacturing,” said Lawande. “Our plan is to make more display content in India.”
To that end, the company has already invested USD 20 million to set up five manufacturing lines in its Chennai plant with a capacity of over 1.5 million displays in a year. “The first two lines are already producing and the other three will start production by the year end,” said Lawande.
For the new factory, the company is looking at various potential sites. “Chennai and Chakan are options,” said Lawande. “We’ve been pleased with our Chennai plant’s performance but the question is of space but we’re hopeful we will be able to start here in Chennai with this new investment,” he added.
India, he added, is on “everybody’s radar as one of the fastest growing auto markets”. Although at 4 million units (passenger vehicles) a year, it is still less than 5% of the global market. “Our investments in India are focused on future potential because in 10 years India will be a 7 million to 8 million unit passenger car market by which time around 30% of the Indian passenger vehicle market will be electric,” he said. That’s when Visteon’s electric powertrain business will gain real traction in India but till then its focus will be on cockpit electronics.
Apart from automotives, Visteon is also interested to be part of the energy storage market in India. “We’re looking at mobility not just of people but also of energy,” said Lawande. “Eventually auto OEMs making EVs will be in that business as fleet becomes a battery storage solution when the car is idling in the parking lot discharging extra energy into the grid,” he explained.
