To bolster the Tokyo workshop this coming June, DVN asked me to make a report on the automotive lighting industry in Japan. Japanese car makers have a global market share of 29%, and Japanese lighting set makers hold 35% of the worldwide market.
I spent four years in Japan as a board member and Managing Director at Ichikoh, so I was well positioned to meet Japanese lighting VIPs with help from a Japanese DVN consultant and lighting market expert, Hitoshi Takahashi. Over the course of a week I met key lighting people from Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Koito, Stanley, and Ichikoh. I thank everybody for their warm welcome and kind support.
When I worked in Japan from 2005 to 2009, it was the beginning of the LED front lighting era, brought forth by Toyota and Koito in 2007 on the Lexus LS. At Ichikoh we were preparing for the 2010 Nissan Leaf launch with 2-LED headlamps. Now, a decade on, LEDs are everywhere and I have seen very interesting innovations demonstrating that Japan is not only leading for production of cars but also in a good position for technology. I discovered a lot of concrete realisations of compact and efficient LEDs systems. One example is the new bi-function module with no fan, developed by Koito for many Toyota models; another the direct-lens system developed by Ichikoh for the new Nissan Leaf. I have also seen interesting innovations to propose new style, for instance the jewel eye with internal-reflection lenses developed by Stanley for Honda.
Japanese makers are also in the ADB race with performant second-generation systems with 24 LEDs in two rows for the Toyota-Koito modules, or with the Mazda-Stanley ADB recently launched, working to propose innovations giving good cost-benefit to customers.
The DVN Report will be published on 22nd May. It will include a global analysis of the Japanese automotive industry and detailed presentation of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda; Koito, Stanley, and Ichikoh, with their realisations and targets for lighting, and interviews with each company’s R&D leaders.
Best regards,
Jean-Paul Ravier
Senior Consultant for DVN