Visteon, a leading global automotive company, is strategizing its upcoming investments in the Indian market. The company aims to allocate approximately $20 million towards establishing localized manufacturing for backlights in India. Speaking to the media, Sachin Lawande, president & CEO, Visteon Corporation said, "Currently we are making plans for backlight manufacturing localization in India and we will probably need about $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".
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". In pursuit of this objective, the company has already committed $20 million towards establishing five manufacturing lines at its Chennai facility, enabling a yearly production capacity exceeding 1.5 million displays.
"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.
In addition to its automotive endeavors, Visteon is also exploring opportunities to participate in India's energy storage market. "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.