A synchronised push across EVs, ADAS, software, and electronics puts India at the centre of Valeo’s 2030 playbook.
08 Dec 2025 | 10209 Views | By Ketan Thakkar
Walk into any showroom in an Indian metro today, and the shift is unmistakable. Buyers who once debated mileage now ask about ADAS. A decade ago, EVs were curiosities; today, they command waiting lists. Local suppliers that once assembled imported designs are now building complete electronics ecosystems. For a technology ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
Walk into any showroom in an Indian metro today, and the shift is unmistakable. Buyers who once debated mileage now ask about ADAS. A decade ago, EVs were curiosities; today, they command waiting lists. Local suppliers that once assembled imported designs are now building complete electronics ecosystems. For a technology heavyweight like Valeo, this behavioural and industrial shift has changed India from a promising outpost into a strategic market with real weight.
Jayakumar G, President and MD of Valeo India, puts the company’s position in simple terms. “Last time when we met, I said our four pillars remain electrification acceleration, ADAS acceleration, lighting everywhere, and interior experience,” he recalls.
Jayakumar G, President and MD, Valeo India
India is no longer a side market in Valeo’s global matrix. The company already generates more than 400 million euros in the country and now plans to cross 1 billion euros within five years. Reaching that figure will require progress on multiple fronts at once, from electrification and ADAS to lighting, cockpit electronics, software, AI-driven development, and new two and three-wheeler technologies.
Over the last three years, India has shifted from being a build-to-print location to a genuine manufacturing and technology base for Valeo. “We have expanded in Pune. Today, we have put in place an entire manufacturing line, not just an assembly line,” Jayakumar says, adding that this expansion comes at a time when India’s EV supply chain is rapidly moving from import-led to local value-add. This is a far more complete build footprint than Valeo originally planned.
As India moves closer to the centre of Valeo’s global strategy, the momentum is most visible in electrification. With domestic demand rising faster than earlier projections, power electronics has become the anchor of Valeo’s next phase in the country.
The next milestone is e-axle localisation. “We call it e-axle. Industrialization is in progress now. The lines are getting ready. We were importing from China. Now it will be local from the beginning of next year, 2026,” he says, as global OEMs and suppliers seek to de-risk dependence on China by building alternate production bases.
This positions India among a small group of Valeo regions capable of producing complete EV powertrains. It also synchronises tightly with the strategies of India’s two most aggressive EV players. “In electrification, we are the leaders in power electronics. We have a major share, with Tata for all their models. And with Mahindra for the Born EV, XEV 9E, XEV 700, and also BEV,” he says. Domestic OEMs drive over 80 percent of the country’s EV volumes, creating steady and significant local demand for power electronics.
Yet Valeo does not expect India to look like China or Europe. Its internal mix projections reflect a uniquely Indian multi-pathway decade. “There will be all types of powertrains. And all types of fuel. Petrol, diesel, and diesel will go down, but ethanol blends, CNG, and EVs will go up. All will be there,” he says, in line with India’s policy push for ethanol, flex fuel, biogas, and hybrids to complement EV adoption. Hybrid systems and range extenders are part of that roadmap. “We have the product, it’s just about adapting it to India.”
But the coexistence of multiple propulsion types has cost implications. “When you have multiple, the scale will be smaller. Your investment gets distributed,” he says, a challenge common across suppliers as India’s market splits into five different powertrain streams.
Yet the direction is clear. “Even though there will be multiple powertrains, the shift to EVs will happen. It may be gradual, but eventually there will be a big penetration in the next five years,” he says, as battery prices ease and domestic value-add continues to rise.
ADAS: India’s Fastest-Emerging Electronics Opportunity
ADAS is turning into a far bigger story for Valeo than initially assumed, mainly because the Indian market itself has shifted gears faster than most global suppliers anticipated. The mid-SUV segment has become India’s volume engine, safety awareness has risen sharply post–2020, and OEMs are now treating ADAS as a competitive differentiator rather than a niche add-on.
“Two to three years back, we did not have any plans. We thought India would be a slow adopter of ADAS,” Jayakumar says. “There was a lot of skepticism about whether ADAS would work in Indian conditions. But with the introduction of ADAS by all major OEMs, people are asking for ADAS features.”
This demand uptrend is evident even in cars priced at ₹15–25 lakh, where Level 2 ADAS has quickly become a showroom-floor expectation rather than a novelty. “When I go to a showroom, ADAS Level 2 is a given. They want it. People are asking. It was not the case two years back.
The regulatory backdrop is also tightening. India is preparing for a major safety update in 2028, moving closer to global crash and driver-monitoring norms. This will make camera- and radar-based systems mandatory on a wider range of models, pushing ADAS into mass-scale adoption.
“Regulations coming in 2028 are going to drive the mass adoption,” he says.
Against this backdrop, Valeo is accelerating localisation. The company is indigenising radars, ultrasonic sensors, cameras, and driver monitoring systems. This move aligns with the broader shift of electronics manufacturing into India to manage cost pressures and supply-chain volatility. “Ultrasonic sensors have already started. New lines for cameras and driver monitoring are coming,” he says.
The commercial opportunity is expanding rapidly as well. Valeo’s India ADAS pipeline has grown far beyond its initial assumptions, reflecting how quickly OEM product plans are evolving. “The potential business will grow 10 times. Today, the scale is small, about 200 million euros, potential for the next five years, but it could be even higher than what we think.”
Valeo also sees India emerging as a competitive ADAS export base, especially for lightweight, high-value modules such as sensors and camera systems. “Once we are successful in India, we gain strength on scale and cost. Then we can become a leader for the rest of the world.”
Software-Defined Vehicles: Early Moves, Human Shifts
What is interesting is how the SDV shift changes the relationships between OEMs and suppliers. Instead of building something and handing it over at SOP, companies are now expected to stay involved throughout the vehicle’s life, updating software, refining algorithms, and adding new functions long after the customer has driven away.
“We are working with many OEMs, European OEMs, and Chinese OEMs. In India also, we have to see. OEMs themselves want to do it,” he says, hinting at a deeper kind of collaboration that stretches across multiple model cycles.
For Valeo, one of its most human strengths in this new world is familiarity. The company has spent years building parking automation systems that blend sensors, computing, and behavioural logic. These systems have required Valeo to understand not just technology, but how people think and react while manoeuvring their cars.
“For driving automation and parking solutions, we are leaders,” he says. “We have a sophisticated solution developed for the European market. Eventually, this is the starting phase.”
Low-speed automation is likely to be India’s first significant step into the SDV era, not because of technology alone but because it solves everyday pain points. Tight parking spaces, crowded basements, awkward street-side manoeuvres, and unpredictable obstacles make India an ideal place for advancements in automated parking.
To support this, Valeo is stitching together a complete sensor and software stack in India. Cameras, radars, ultrasonic sensors, domain controllers, fusion layers, and parking ECUs are all being localised and engineered to work cohesively. These are precisely the capabilities Indian OEMs will lean on as they design platforms for the second half of the decade.
“Every Tier 1 has certain strengths. Somebody is strong in sensors. Somebody is strong in driving automation software. We are very strong in parking automation,” Jayakumar says.
Lighting, Interior Electronics, and the India Cost Reality
If electrification and ADAS are helping Valeo move up India’s value chain, lighting has given it an entirely different kind of reality check. This is the domain where the company is a global powerhouse. Its matrix beam systems, dynamic DRLs, and high-end LED architecture are found in some of the most aspirational European cars. But in India, the rules of the game are different. Cost, not sophistication, decides who gets in and who stays out.
“India is a challenging market. We can no longer be a European company in India. We have to be an Indian company in India,” Jayakumar says. For years, this price gulf has kept Valeo’s lighting volumes modest. The company had the technology but not the correct local equation.
That changed when Valeo teamed up with Ichiko and TACO. It is a partnership built on complementary strengths: Ichiko brings frugal Japanese engineering and long-standing OEM trust, TACO offers scale and deep localisation, and Valeo plugs in the technology backbone. “It will be a JV. Ichiko will manage it. We get the financial benefit rather than the operational execution benefit,” Jayakumar explains.
Put simply, Valeo is stepping back from day-to-day execution so the JV can build at India-cost for India-volumes without diluting the global technology DNA. If the model works, it could do more than fix a cost gap; it could reset Valeo’s presence in one of the largest lighting markets in the world.
The opportunity does not end with headlights and DRLs. India’s cockpit is changing fast. Displays, intelligent switches, driver monitoring systems, and connected modules are becoming the new focal point of interaction between humans and machines. Valeo’s Interior or “Brain” division sits right in that space. “Today we do not have the presence of those products in India, but our goal is to enter this market,” Jayakumar says.
OEMs preparing their next-gen platforms need suppliers who can handle electronics architecture shifts, UI–UX complexity, and cockpit integration without blowing up costs. Valeo is already bidding for major programmes under the European car makers platform. If it wins these, India could soon become a development and manufacturing node for cockpit electronics as well.
Two- and Three-Wheelers: A New India-Centric Portfolio
If the car market is where Valeo is scaling at depth, the two- and three-wheeler industry is where it is quietly building breadth. The company’s early foray into global two-wheeler programmes had once promised a strong India play, but the plans never materialised. Some global projects were shelved, others ran into geopolitical headwinds, and India’s role in that portfolio paused before it could truly begin.
“There were some global projects, but then they cancelled the program because of some geopolitical issues,” Jayakumar says, recalling that earlier chapter without dwelling on it.
This time, the approach is unmistakably different. The portfolio is being built bottom-up for India. Not adapted. Not repurposed. Designed for the country’s cost structures, usage cycles, and last-mile realities.
At the heart of this renewed push is a compact, high-efficiency 48-volt electric drive, aimed at mass-market electric scooters and small three-wheelers. The brief is clear: simple, durable, frugal, and scalable.
“We are working on a 48-volt electric e-drive, the smaller motor, which is more compact,” Jayakumar says. The unit integrates a motor, inverter, and reducer into a package that withstands India’s heat, load cycles, and stop-and-go patterns.
Running parallel to electrification is another frontier India has barely explored: Advanced Riding Assistance Systems (ARAS). While ADAS in cars has picked up pace, its equivalent for two-wheelers is at the very beginning of its curve. But the industry’s safety concerns are real and urgent. Urban density is rising, speeds are climbing, and India still leads the world in rider fatalities.
Valeo’s ARAS suite is built around a front camera, a radar, a display, and a telematics module. “We are working on ARAS for two-wheelers. It has a camera and radar, and we also have the display and telematics,” Jayakumar says.
The system targets functions such as forward collision alerts, blind-spot warnings, and rider awareness checks. These are early steps, but they mark a shift toward structured safety tech in a segment long defined by cost and volume alone.
The market outlook reinforces the opportunity. India’s two-wheeler EV penetration could hit 38 percent by 2032, while three-wheelers may reach 77 percent — one of the steepest adoption curves anywhere in the world. The economics are undeniable: running costs, fleet electrification, delivery platforms, and urban mobility dynamics are all pushing the curve upward.
“From the fourth year onwards, we have some targets, with the adoption getting more and more, and penetration increasing in the coming years,” he says.
The two- and three-wheeler business may not carry the prestige of EV SUVs or Level 2 ADAS, but in pure scale, no other category comes close. For Valeo, this is not a side bet. It is a deliberate move to anchor itself in the centre of India’s mass mobility transition, one where volumes, affordability, and technology are finally beginning to align.
AI and the Efficiency Push
For years, Valeo’s India strategy leaned on localisation, partnerships, and hardware depth. But the company’s next leap is being powered by something far less visible: artificial intelligence quietly rewiring how its global engineering engine works.
“AI and machine learning, this is something we have applied. It gives a lot of benefits,” Jayakumar says. The impact is measurable. Valeo is now targeting a significant reduction in both R&D time and cost. That is not a marginal saving. For a Tier 1 that works across dozens of OEM platforms, hundreds of variants, and millions of lines of code, it is a fundamental restructuring of throughput.
In some pockets, the jumps are dramatic. “In some cases, we are getting significant reduction in time,” he says. These gains come from AI-led simulation, automated code generation, virtual validation loops, and predictive design tools that cut down physical iterations.
For India, this shift matters far more than it appears. OEMs are condensing model cycles. EVs, hybrids, and ADAS systems demand faster software refreshes. Power electronics require rapid calibration. And the market is no longer forgiving of long development gestation. AI becomes the silent workforce that compresses timelines without swelling headcount.
Jayakumar notes that AI is not confined to engineering alone. “We use AI not only in R&D. We are using it in HR, Finance, Logistics, Supply Chain… everywhere.” It is a complete organisational rewiring, not a lab project.
This is where the India narrative folds back in. Faster R&D does not just improve internal efficiency; it strengthens Valeo’s ability to win more Indian programmes, participate in more bids, and deliver technology at costs that match the country’s razor-thin pricing envelopes.
The One-Billion-Euro Bet
Jayakumar states Valeo’s India ambition without overstating it. “Today we are above 400 million euros, and the target is to double, to cross 1 billion euros in the next five years.” The push spans electric drive systems, power electronics, ADAS sensors, cockpit electronics, lighting, and new two and three-wheeler technologies. India is no longer a narrow contribution market. It is a collection of parallel growth engines maturing at the same time.
The obstacles remain real. Costs are tight. “We are making significant investments, but the volumes are not guaranteed,” he says. Charging infrastructure is still developing. “Charging infrastructure is still a challenge.” And India’s multi-powertrain decade spreads investments thin. “When you have multiple, the scale will be smaller. Your investment gets distributed.”
If the company reaches its target, it will not be because of one big win. It will be because India’s EV, ADAS, software, and electronics curves rose together. And because the market grew faster than anyone expected.
‘We expect to achieve at least 30% market share in India’
India may not be the world’s largest EV market, but for Valeo’s global powertrain head Xavier Dupont, it has already emerged as the most strategically important. As Europe slows, the US hesitates, and China stabilises, Dupont tells Autocar Professional why India is the one market expanding on every metric that matters: electrification, domestic volume, engineering capability, and policy support.
Xavier Dupont, Global Powertrain Head, Valeo
For a €12-billion power division built around high-voltage systems, power electronics, e-axles, and thermal technologies, Dupont now sees India not as a frontier but as a future centre of gravity.
How do you view India’s electrification trajectory today?
I believe the Indian market will take off in electrification, not only for two- and three-wheelers but also for cars. The success we have with Mahindra and the good business with Tata show the pace of change. I now expect us to grow with Maruti Suzuki as well. Overall, the market is well-positioned to grow in electrification, supported by the government and various states.
What gives you confidence in India as a long-term electrification hub for Valeo?
The most important thing for me is the quality of the team. India has excellent engineers, outstanding universities, and a strong willingness to grow and improve the business. Your demographics are also a significant strength. Based on all this, I am convinced that in the next ten years, India will become the place to be for automotive growth.
What are the most significant disruptive forces globally, and where does India support Valeo most strongly?
AI is a real opportunity for us. In India, we have many good engineers working with AI. They are using AI for coding, for simulation of our thermal products, and for the full AI-led design of our thermal and lighting products. With our strengths in AI management, India becomes a strong leverage point. Of course, AI does not do everything, but with intelligent management, we are well placed for the future.
Electrification pathways are diverging globally. How do you see the transition across regions?
Electrification is evolving differently country by country. The US will not be like Europe, and neither will Europe be like China. China is increasingly moving toward pure EVs. Europe has a 2035 deadline for combustion engines, but I believe hybridisation will continue with long-range plug-in hybrids. For India, the market sits in between. EV will be the primary trend, but you will also have range extenders and strong hybrids. All Indian OEMs are working on these options. And because charging infrastructure is changing very quickly, I believe in pure EV for India as well.
Looking at 2030, what role do you see India playing in your division’s growth?
2030 is tomorrow. We will continue to grow with Mahindra and Tata, who have been strong partners for a long time. Maruti Suzuki must be a target for us, and so must Hyundai. I do not see a big disruption in the next five years. The disruption will come after. But if you are not ready at the beginning, you cannot be the best. That is why early engagement matters, and it is what we did with Tata and Mahindra. I am sure our clients will recognise our support.
India still contributes a modest share to Valeo globally. Do you expect this to rise significantly?
With all the Capex and human resources we have invested in India, I expect to achieve at least 30 percent market share. Today, we are already leaders in passenger-vehicle EVs in India with Tata and Mahindra. We have 100 percent of Tata’s power electronics and 100 percent of Mahindra’s BEV electric motor. If we achieve 30 percent market share in India, even organically, it will be very good for us.
‘We’re Not Chasing Exports, We Believe in Local for Local’
As global auto markets wobble between policy reversals, slowing EV momentum, and supply chain fragility, Valeo’s Brain division sees India moving in the opposite direction. Demand is rising, technology adoption is accelerating, and regulations are pushing OEMs to upgrade faster than expected.
Marc Vrecko, Global Brain Division, Valeo
For Marc Vrecko, who heads Valeo’s global Brain division (responsible for comfort, ADAS, and interior electronics products), India is no longer a peripheral geography. It is a strategic market with scale, diversity, and engineering depth.
How do you view the global market today, and where does India fit into that picture?
There are not many countries with expanding markets. Europe is going down. The United States is very hesitant. China is stabilising, though production is rising, driven by exports and domestic demand. India, on the other hand, is one of our fastest-growing markets.
We strongly believe in the growth of this market and in the level of functionality now expected here. The time when people thought India was mostly three-wheelers and tuk-tuks is gone. When I sit in a Mahindra, a latest Maruti Suzuki, or a Tata, these cars are catching up with world standards very quickly. The demand for our products is expanding.
How important is localisation and the Indian industrial footprint for the Brain division?
From day one, we understood that India requires a local-for-local approach. That is essential. When regulatory changes around parking systems were announced, we moved immediately. We are global leaders in parking technology, and we decided to anchor that capability in India. We now have a very strong facility in Sanand, Gujarat, which will become our industrial base for many Brain division products.
We also have a powerful R&D centre in Chennai. With Chennai and Sanand together, we can build long-term partnerships with Indian OEMs and bring our global ecosystem, including Mobileye, Qualcomm, and key Asian partners, to this market.
Can Sanand become a significant export hub? And how do you leverage India’s R&D capability globally?
Export is not the priority. Valeo is built on a local-for-local philosophy. What we supply in North America is built there. What we provide in Europe is built in Europe. What we supply in Asia is built in Asia. Within Asia itself, India, China, Korea, and Japan are distinct. India is for India. China is for China. Korea is for Korea. I do not want the Indian team to lose focus by chasing export volumes. The priority is to serve the Indian customer.
R&D is different. Chennai is one of our global R&D platforms. Along with Cairo, it supports programmes beyond its region. All non-Chinese Asian projects rely strongly on our Chennai team. So when we bring a project to India, our engineers already have relevant experience from similar global assignments. The knowledge continuity is very strong.
We expect above-average growth globally, and India will contribute meaningfully. The team here is strong and the targets are clear.
With ongoing disruption in tariffs, rare-earth materials, and supply chain reliability, how is Valeo Brain prepared?
We must ensure supply chain resiliency. During the semiconductor shortage in 2021, Valeo was the only major Tier 1 to lose no customer cars due to supply issues. Not one. We sensed the disruption early, took proactive measures, and maintained resiliency throughout the crisis. We must remain sensitive to geopolitics and ensure customers always have choices. Our plan always includes plans A, B, and C.
Does disruptive geopolitics increase India’s relevance for Valeo?
The objective is not to benefit from geopolitics. It is to manage uncertainty. India’s relationship with China is complex. It has been difficult and may improve, but uncertainty remains. We cannot afford any dependency that could become a significant problem later. So we work closely with customers to share the same view and act accordingly.
India will be central. The capability base here is world-class, the market is evolving fast, and the team is very strong. I look forward to seeing India play an even bigger role in the Brain division’s future.