megatrends

three, increasing the plant’s capacity
significantly. This includes a doubling of the
plant’s capacity for low-pressure carburising,
the heat treatment coating technique which,
whilst already employed by other companies,
is used to unique effect by Delphi-TVS at
Oragadam.
Well protected from the dust and heat,
manufacturing takes place in autonomous
production units (APUs) where cleanliness
and pinpoint accuracy are crucial. This is
especially important for the production and
assembly of the nozzles and injectors
machined on-site.
These parts play a crucial role in meeting the
increased pressures that common rail systems
need to operate under to meet Bharat IV.
Common rail is of great interest and
importance to the Indian market, where the
growth of diesel has accelerated enormously
in the last two years.
While the political debate continues about
whether or not the fuel should be subsidised,
diesel car sales remain strong thanks to
attractive pump prices which put diesel at
around 30% cheaper than gasoline. Common
rail is a good way to meet Bharat 4 and 5
(Euro 4 and 5) legislation, say experts at
Delphi-TVS, and the NVH performance of
diesel cars is almost as good as gasoline cars
now, thanks again to common rail.
Today, UPCR. Tomorrow, the world?
As outlined later, this JV is best portrayed by a
jointly-developed product, the Unit Pump
Common Rail, or UPCR. The UPCR was
developed in India by Delphi-TVS specifically
for use in smaller, mainstream and lower-end
emerging market vehicles. Intended for small
three and four-wheeled vehicles with one to
three-cylinder engines, it is a low-cost
adaptation of Delphi’s advanced common rail
technology, designed to meet Euro 4.
The successful development, adaptation and
commercialisation of the UPCR illustrates
how India can be a driver of product
development for other emerging markets
around the world. T.K. Balaji, the Managing
Director of Delphi-TVS Diesel Systems,
agrees. “In the coming years, I definitely see
India playing a role,” he says.
“The Indian market is a highly value-conscious
market. Affordability is critical here, so people
are very price-conscious. In the passenger car
industry, the small car segment dominates. The
upper end segments are there but they're not
Q1 2013
the dominant segment of the market. But the
consumers are demanding the same kind of
technologies and quality as you see in the
high-end cars, so more and more innovations
are likely to take place to make that happen.
This could be a great opportunity for us.”
This is where the JV can exploit the fact that
one partner is a global supplier. “Delphi is able
to deliver that. The case in point is the UPCR,
which we developed together. That is now
being developed further to supply to other
markets.” The majority of Delphi-TVS
production is sold in India, but with the
expansion at the Oragadam plant, it is
reasonable to expect the facility to be used
for export.
In the Indian market, the best business to be
had is in the key, cost-sensitive mainstream A
to C segments. Whilst Delphi-TVS needs to
target these segments for the volume, is there
an opportunity for the JV to also target
premium models, as Delphi does in mature
markets?
“It is an evolution,” says Balaji. “One has to
wait and see. It could happen. We are
supplying in India identical products that are
supplied in Europe. We are also developing
innovative low cost products.”
Engineering the engineers of tomorrow
Although the potential may exist for India to
be a leading source of product development
for global emerging markets, the necessary
infrastructure needs to be in place to produce
engineers who can compete on an
Megatrends
Unit Pump Common Rail (UPCR) test bench
international level. Does India have the
appropriate systems in place? “That is a very
interesting, perceptive question about India,”
says Balaji. “If you go on the basis of what is in
place now, and whether it could happen, you
will never answer that question.
“India is full of entrepreneurship. Take the
software industry: over 20 years, it has
transformed from nothing into a huge
industry, not only creating significant value
here but also globally. I think you can never say
what will happen in the future based on what
is there today. There's a great capacity here to
execute. What we are not so good at still is
developing breakthrough technologies. But
we're very good at absorbing technology and
implementing it in a lower-cost manner.”
But Balaji remains hopeful that breakthrough
technologies can come out of India. “I think it
will happen one of these days,” he says. “When
you have highly competitive forces at play, as
we do in India, innovation has to thrive.
Innovation becomes an intense competitive
pressure where somebody has to do
something different. So really all the
ingredients are there for it; everybody is here
and everybody is trying to get a share of the
market. There's intense competition, and
somebody will inevitably come up with
innovative ideas. It's just a question of time.”
And the development of emissions regulations
offers opportunities to companies like Delphi-
TVS, Balaji says. “Today India is at Euro IV. So
we are just one generation behind Europe in
terms of emissions standards. By 2020, I think
we will be on a par [with Europe].”
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