Horse Powertrain Plans India Entry; Puts Hybrids at Core

Global powertrain supplier Horse Powertrain, backed by France’s Renault and China’s Geely, is evaluating multiple ways to enter the Indian market as the company looks at India as a key strategic growth market.

The €15 billion company is placing hybrid technologies at the centre of its powertrain strategy, positioning strong hybrids, plug-in hybrids and range-extender systems as its main commercial focus for markets such as India.

“India is clearly one of our key strategic countries. If we want to be big in India, we need to localise, and we are very conscious of that,” Carolina Mechai, sales and business development head at Horse Powertrain, told Autocar Professional in an exclusive interaction.

She noted that the company is evaluating multiple ways to enter India, including localisation through existing partners, co-development programmes with Indian OEMs and, over time, the possibility of setting up local manufacturing followed by export operations from India.

“India is not just a market for us. It is a potential development base and, over time, a potential export hub for other regions such as Europe and Latin America,” Mechai said.

For Horse, India’s importance goes beyond volume potential. The country sits at the intersection of three priorities that define its long-term business model: sustained demand for internal combustion and hybrid powertrains, strong cost-engineering capabilities, and the opportunity to build scale with customers that are increasingly outsourcing powertrain development.

Horse already supplies engines for Renault Group’s operations in Chennai, but is now looking to move beyond this towards a more defined presence under the Horse brand. India could play a larger role as a development and industrialisation base, and potentially as an export hub, she said.

Instead of betting only on battery electric vehicles, the company is backing a multi-fuel route to net zero that it says is aligned with India’s policy direction. “There is not only one road to net zero. It is not just EVs. Hybrids, flex fuels, efficient ICE and range extenders all have a role to play,” Mechai said.

Horse was formed about two-and-a-half years ago following the carve-out of powertrain operations from Renault Group and Geely Holding Group. Saudi Aramco later took a 10% stake in the venture.

Today, Horse operates as an independent global supplier. It has around 90,000 employees worldwide and supplies close to 8 million powertrain units every year, with annual revenue of about €15 billion.

India supports this multi-technology strategy, the company said. Diesel continues to account for roughly one-fifth of India’s passenger vehicle market, with a higher share in mid-size sport utility vehicles, while alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas and flex fuels are also emerging.

(With inputs from Mukul Yudhveer Singh)