Sensata looks to gain traction in automotive sensing business in India

Sensata Technologies India, a first-time participant at SIAT 2015, had displayed its range of sensors and associated products at the recently concluded Symposium of International Automotive Technology (SIAT), organised by ARAI in Pune last month.

Present in India for close to two years now, Sensata’s Indian arm supplies its sensors to Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Ashok Leyland, Volkswagen, Fiat, General Motors and other automotive companies.

Sidhartha Kinare, sales and marketing director, India Sensor products, Sensata Technologies, told Autocar Professional, “We import the entire range of sensors spanning across applications in engine, transmission, and exhaust systems. Sensata had acquired Schrader, a leader in tyre pressure monitoring systems last year, and that brought sensor technologies related to tyre pressure monitoring systems. We are upbeat about marketing these sensors to our customers in India.”

The company is clearly looking at gaining traction in the sensor business among the OEMs as safety and emission-related concerns are the most talked about areas across the automotive industry currently.

Sensata Technologies, an NYSE-listed company, according to Kinare, has recently made four acquisitions including Schrader, Delta Tech, Wabash Technologies to expand its global operations.

The company is one of the world’s leading suppliers of sensing, electrical protection, control and power management solutions across a broad array of industries and markets. The sensor portfolio of the company ranges across alternative fuel sensing, cylinder pressure sensing, high temperature sensing, position sensing, vision sensing, tire pressure sensing, and many others.

While alternate fuels are gaining prominence in the automotive industry, which is desperately looking at cleaner technologies, players such as Sensata technologies stand to benefit from its products typically the ones associated with the CNG (compressed natural gas) and LPG (liquefied natural gas) engine control systems. Within this sphere, the company supplies fuel rail pressure sensors, regulator and tank valve pressure sensors, and others.

It is well known that Sensata Technologies was earlier a part of Texas Instruments, and was known as the latter’s sensors and control business arm. 

However, in 2006, after Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm based in Boston, bought the business from Texas Instruments (for US$ 3 billion), it emerged as a standalone entity already having its manufacturing and development centers across the world. Sensor products have always remained the core business of the company.