Regulatory norms on fuel and safety to determine path ahead for Indian auto sector

Regulatory norms will be a key factor deciding the path ahead for the Indian auto sector as far as fuel efficiency, safety and corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) is concerned, said Vikram  Kirloskar, vice-president, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, and chairman of last week’s CII conference on Automotive R&D trends in Chennai. Autocar Professional was one of the media partners to this event, now in its seventh edition.  

In his theme address, Kirloskar also alluded to other issues that will impact the auto sector including lifecycle changes that will determine the kind of cars that ply on our roads as well as vehicle recyclability. He added that while he wants the government to introduce legislation to take ageing vehicles off India’s roads, he admitted that recycling them would be a challenge.

He also outlined the areas in which Indian OEs would have to focus their R&D which included materials research, industry-academia interaction as well as automotive design. Providing a frame of reference, he said that while car designs change once in 7-8 years, those pertaining to the vehicle powertrain typically take about 14 years. But with the advent of hybrids – the fourth generation is expected to roll out in 2016 – he said the need for in-depth research including silicon level R&D would be the need of the hour. Overall, the real impetus to R&D, he said, is increased vehicle volumes to justify R&D expenses. And while the opportunities in design exceed that of powertrain, India cannot afford to ignore the powertrain, he said.

Addressing a 450-strong crowd, Ambuj Sharma, additional secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, government of India, gave an overview of the government’s Automotive Mission Plan, explaining that the plan had been impacted by the 2008 global meltdown as well as the fall of the rupee. Against a $143 billion target, the industry has been able to reach $78 billion, double that of the 2006 number. But for the above-mentioned reasons, this figure could have been at $105 billion. Sharma also reiterated the impact of regulation and the requirement of better products, themes that Kirloskar alluded to.

Commenting on the auto fuel policy, Sharma said the ministry of petroleum is considering if both Euro 5 and 6 (or Bharat V and VI emission norms) can be brought in by 2020 as the investments of about Rs 60,000 crore that refineries will put in can suffice for both regulatory norms.

On other fronts, he said, the government is close to issuing its advanced safety notifications as well as the CAFE norms for the auto sector. On NATRiP, Sharma said that a high-speed testing track for R&D is expected to be commissioned in Indore in two years’ time. He also recommended that the auto cess being collected by the government since 1984 be ploughed back into auto R&D to co-develop technology with the auto sector.    

The conference was addressed by senior executives and functional heads from Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra to Indian Oil, Asia Motor Works and Delphi TVS.