Last week, two events were held in India: Auto Expo and the DVN Workshop.
At Auto Expo, I was strongly impressed by the young visitors interested and even passionate for cars—compared to the older age range of visitors to motor shows in Europe, Japan, and America, where young people are more interested by the internet than by in-person motor shows.
The cars at Auto Expo were mostly small and low-cost models, without a lot of technology but with nice styling and a perceptible use of headlamps with different designs for personalisation—and, surprisingly, the same is true of 2-wheelers, which form a major chunk of Indian motor sales. Although Indian law doesn’t require DRLs, they are increasingly prevalent as a styling feature (same as in the USA). Premium German marques had great success at the show, with hundreds of visitors queueing to get into the booths. Watch for DVN’s report on Auto Expo to be released in the next weeks.
And then there was the DVN Workshop and its surprising 200 attendees. It was our first in India. Very interesting lectures from Valeo, Hella, Minda, and IJL on products for emerging markets and Renault about the diffilculties to develop a worldwide car with such different regulations and environments. Then Lumax-Stanley presented a bifunction LED with great improvements on weight, volume, and performance. And vehicle lighting’s own rock star, Rainer Neuman, came through with his usual charismatic prentation of advanced technologies. The third session focused on light sources—quite a bit of LED material, of course, but also halogen (important in this price-sensitive market) including new H17 for motorcycles and H18 and H19 for cars. I also liked the Tier 2 presentations by Mentor, LMT, Docter Optics, and Synopsys, and another of GTB President Geoff Draper’s ably-led panel discussions about Indian regulations. See next, interesting info on the regulation session.
We’ll release a full report on the Workshop in the coming weeks, with material from the slide shows of the lectures (according to speaker agreement).
Indeed I spent a very fruitful time in India. When we see the enthusiasm of young people and the involvement of set makers, it inspires optimism for the mid-term future of the automotive Indian market.
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief