DivgiWarner bullish on India market business

Giving a leg up to its growth and a push to its new business plan for India, DivgiWarner is actively involved in developing several new products for the four-wheeler industry in the country.

One of these is the four-wheel drive torque transfer system for the upcoming Tata Hexa crossover. Revealed at the Auto Expo 2016, the Tata crossover is slated for a June launch.

DivgiWarner, a joint venture between DivgiMetalwares of Pune and BorgWarner Torque Transfer Systems of USA, makes four-wheel drive transfer cases and torque couplers for SUVs and light pickup trucks in India. It also makes synchronisers for manual transmissions using steel technology with a carbon lining instead of conventional brass materials to ensure both performance and higher durability.

The company is looking at a wide range of new products for India with most of the work to revolve around electronically controlled, traction-controlled, BorgWarner torque-on-demand technology. Simply put, the products relate to torque transfer systems.

The component maker has been developing and supplying electronically controlled drivetrain systems to Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford in India. The company designed, developed and built the transfer cases for the Ford Endeavour for Thailand for the 2003-2012 models. For the current-generation Endeavour, the transfer case comes from BorgWarner Korea as high volumes are required for the vehicle. 

Exploring DCT tech for India

DivgiWarner has also developed heavier duty transfer cases for light duty commercial vehicles and these are compatible with both manual and automatic transmissions. “We are currently exploring the market in terms of demand and technology for dual clutch automatic transmissions (DCT). This technology, co-invented by BorgWarner with Volkswagen in 2003, has reached a certain stage of maturity in Europe and in the world. In India, it is seen with mystique and so, as an intermediate step, automated manual transmissions (AMT) have come in,” JitendraDivgi, managing director of DivgiWarner, told Autocar Professional in an exclusive interaction.

While in Europe, AMTs are viewed as obsolete and their economics differ, in India AMTs are still a novel product and considered both reliable and a useful starting point for applications in entry level cars for manoeuvring city traffic snarls better. Maruti Suzuki India introduced the AMT option in its Celerio hatchback and seeing its success is now extending the range to encompass other models as well.

As far as the commercial prospects of the dual clutch transmission are concerned, it will be an expensive proposition and a concern is whether the Indian market will be able to absorb its cost impact especially the small and compact car segments.

“Our small car industry currently is very cost sensitive but according to another view the Indian market is evolving very fast and people are on the lookout for value for money. If there is a threshold and you manage the cost increment within that threshold and provide superior value with considerably higher standards of reliability, then prospective buyers will be drawn towards it,” says Divgi who maintains that the life of the clutch is veritably the life and soul of the car. “The drive should give exhilaration which the DCT can provide,” he adds.

The company is examining the commercial viability of bringing DCT to India. DCT will initially come broadly on high-performance engines starting with the premium B-segment cars and going upwards to compact SUVs.

DivgiWarner’s approach is to understand engine technology that is evolving in the Indian market and, consistent with that, match performance standards to keep the integrity of its product. VW has introduced DCT in its cars in Europe and in the US; BorgWarner has supplied the parts for the dual wet clutch solution in the Skoda Octavia and VW Jetta and Passat as well as Audi cars. 

India as a production base

At present, the DCT components are made at three global locations of the company, two in France and Germany, and one in China. Going forward, BorgWarner is believed to be exploring  plans to initially bring some of the core components for the DCT to India from China when Indian companies may require this technology.

BorgWarner Inc has been supporting the development of low-cost DCTs for the automatic transmission in sync with the US, Chinese and Japanese OEMs for the small car markets in Japan, China and India for the last 7-8 years. 

Moreover, with stop-start traffic prevalent in India, an automated transmission has to go a long way in terms of reliability and performance. The wet DCT ensures superior performance and longevity of life due to a combination of lubrication and advanced friction materials.  In comparison, a dry clutch system may involve 2-3 changes due to wear and tear. However, making the wet dual clutch affordable in India would entail a high level of localisation to make it economical.

At present, DCT eludes the small car market in India primarily because the automatic ecosystem continues to be in a fledgling stage with just about three percent of the passenger car market being AT or AMT-driven. But in future, this segment could offer huge opportunities.

Meanwhile, the automotive market in China, which is primarily petrol engine-driven with 2.0-litre and above engines, has over the last 20 years harnessed conventional step torque automatics and is using torque converters similar to that in the USA, Korea and Japan. DCTs and AMTs are more a European phenomenon. India’s diesel technology is also influenced by Europe.

Drawing from the learnings gleaned from Europe on how the common-rail direct injection engine was developed there, in India a collaboration of prominent European Tier 1s and Indian OEMs reworked the rules. The Indian eco-system figured out a more frugal way to develop the common-rail turbocharged diesel engines. That is exactly what is expected to happen in the case of DCTs in terms of
general automation applied to transmission control.

Divgi visualises the penetration of DCTs in the volume car segment to start by 2019-20 when an assembly of DCTs will also happen in India. “India has the manufacturing technology for making mechanical parts for the DCT. What we don’t have is the design knowledge, most of which is patented, so some form of technology transfer has to happen in India.” But he admits that BorgWarner has the proven clutch technology and the local arm will have to import the clutch as a complete unit. Aluminium housings and gears can, however, be made in-house for it.     

Compared to AMT, DCT delivers a better shift performance with the reliability of the gear enhanced with the wet- clutch type.

In the years to come, the Indian automotive industry will be looking to find a cost-effective way to develop DCTs so that even mass market cars can harness the technology.