Kistler Instrumente eyes new business in India

Switzerland-based Kistler Instrumente AG expects the Indian automotive market will offer sizeable growth in the years to come. Despite the ongoing slowdown, the company which supplies measurement technology for engine and vehicle powertrain development, engine monitoring, quality assurance in parts production and traffic monitoring, has recorded decent growth.

“Our products are for combustion analysis and combustion development like fuel injection, cylinder pressure and crank angle position. Also for injection timing, ignition timing, brake or oil pressure in dynamic measurement, not static. So it is high-end applications right from a single-cylinder engine to big marine or power generation,” said Dr Andrea Bertola, Business Development Manager, Asia.

Globally, Kistler has an impressive list of customers including Daimler, Audi, Volkswagen and Weichai in China, Toyota in Japan. In India, it caters to OEs like Ashok Leyland, Nissan Motor India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Daimler, TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto and Tier 1 suppliers such as Delphi and Bosch.

In Asia, Japan and China are its biggest markets followed by South Korea. As of now, India is a smaller market for the company but it is consistently notching growth over the past few years.  Kistler however does not have a production facility in Asia and caters to this market through imports from Switzerland, Germany and the United States.

At last month’s Automotive Testing Expo in Chennai,  the company showcased KiBox To Go, a vehicle combustion analysis solution that complements the company’s extensive range of sensors and amplifiers. KiBox reduces the amount of expensive equipment required for each test vehicle and the results from in-vehicle combustion analysis systems are comparable with those taken from a test bench measurement, despite the different manner in which the crank is angle is recorded.

Kistler’s range of services includes all the elements of the combustion analysis measuring chain, including training, calibration and other services. This helps vehicle manufacturers to measure and evaluate the complex and highly dynamic sequences of events in the combustion chamber and this can be provided on site as well.

Photographs: Dr Andrea Bertola, Business Development Manager, Asia, and KiBox.