Global automotive climate, electronics and interior systems vendor Visteon Corporation is looking ahead and designing products visualising the future industry trends, a top company official said.
Speaking to reporters here Friday showcasing e-Bee, the concept car for 2020, managing director Subu Nagasubramony said: "The automotive industry is changing dramatically world wide. The entry of electric vehicles, strict emission norms will bring in fuel efficient technologies."
Nagasubramony, also the president (Asia Pacific), Halla Visteon Climate Control Corporation (HVCC) a subsidiary of Visteon, added that tier I auto component vendors have to anticipate and change to the emerging situation.
Despite the increase in electronic systems in the vehicles, he said the revenue mix for Visteon would continue to be the same with climate systems contributing around 50 percent and the remaining equally shared between electronics and interiors.
According to him, the slowdown in the automotive market in India and the rupee depreciation has not largely affected Visteon's operations in India as the problems seem to be of short term in nature.
HVCC is introducing new climate control products in the Indian market like the rotary suction valve compressor, exhaust gas recirculation coolers, slim heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that are light - by weight and on automobile manufacturer's purse and improves fuel efficiency.
On the electronics front, Visteon has developed a new infotainment system that enables multi-devise connectivity and management of content. The infotainment system has been designed and developed with the involvement of Visteon engineers at its technical centres located here and in Pune.
The company is also ready with an in-vehicle wireless charging device for mobile phones, cloud connectivity for audio infotainment systems and a fully automated temperature control systems, officials said.
According to Anand Thiagarajan, country head - India Interiors Product Group, the company has developed and patented an injected, expanded polypropylene material for door trims that is considerably lighter than a normal injection moulded part.
"We have also introduced a piano black moulded technology that gives a high gloss finish normally obtained through painting to get premium look," Thiagarajan said.
As to the e-Bee concept car, Visteon has literally taken a "leaf" out of Nissan Motor Company to build the vehicle of the future.
According to Bertrand Stelandre, head of auto envison, design and innovation, Europe, the e-Bee concept car was designed with Nissan Leaf, the electric car from Nissan.
He said e-Bee is based on simplicity (designed for car sharing, private ownership and short term rental) using cloud based user profile storage); flexibility (the user interface could be modified as per the regional needs); and frugality.
According to him, the car's architecture has been designed to provide maximum comfort with efficient usage of space.
"The air bags are fixed at the car roof and not at the dashboard giving more freedom. Similarly the integrated climate system module is located outside of the cabin permitting new cockpit styles," Stelandre said.
The automatic driver recognition through smart phones or already entered data enables personalization of the interfaces - infotainment and others. The car also has multiple speakers and microphones so that the occupants can enjoy their own music.
The car also sports display on the driver's line of sight reducing the distraction and a 360 degree panaromic view for easy parking.
