The automotive sector is one of India’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing sectors. With a turnover of US$13 B, the automobile sector employs about 0.45 million people directly and 10 million people indirectly, including after-sales and servicing networks. This ranked India as the 11th largest passenger car producer in the world. In the category of motorcycles and scooters, India is ranked 1st and 2nd respectively. With India increasingly liberalizing its market place, many new joint ventures evolved, resulting in close to 2 dozen global auto manufacturers setting up shop in India

The auto component segment is equally robust, supplying the entire range of parts required by the domestic automobile industry and currently employs about 250,000 people. Although small by global standards, this segment is growing rapidly as a result of its low costs and rising quality. Sales turnover of parts is estimated to have reached US$8.7 B in 2004/05, 29% higher than the previous year. Noticeably, auto component manufacturers supply to two kinds of buyers – original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and the replacement market. Over 300 small and medium companies directly service the OEMs assembling vehicles in India. Downstream, close to 5,000 other micro firms are working for these Tier 1 suppliers, as well as for the replacement market

The sector can be segmented into 2. One is the automobile segment. The other is the auto parts segment. The key manufacturing areas for these 2 segments are well spread across the country.

The growth of India’s automotive sector is driven by the key forces below:

Import

Automotive related imports are largely in auto parts, accounting for a lion’s share of 85%. These imports will feed the manufacturing plants, producing vehicles for domestic market as well as export market.

As the demand from the domestic market increases with rising affluence, production will increase in tandem, hence requiring more imports of parts, especially those of higher precision which still cannot be done in India. Global players in India still need to import fairly large amount of auto parts for their automobile assembly as quality and technological standards of auto parts sourced from within India may not meet their high standards. The expected Increase in exports of India-made vehicles will also contribute to import growth of auto parts.

Export

Automotive related exports expanded rapidly in recent years. Automobile exports grew at a compound annual growth rate of 46% between 2001 and 2006. Export share of production increased from 3% in 2001 to 8% in 2006. The growth is boosted by these several factors such as India’s cost competitiveness in terms of labor and raw material; established manufacturing base; economies of scale due to domestic market; potential to harness global brand image of the parent company, as well as the global hub policy for small cars like Hyundai, Suzuki, etc

Most automotive exports go to developing countries in Asia, where inexpensive cars can find a market. Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria are important destinations for India’s automotive exports. More recently, as the quality and technology of India-made automobiles have improved and met stringent requirement of the international market, some cars have found buyers even in Western Europe.

Similarly for auto parts, exports have been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 25% over 2000-2005. Share of exports in total production increased to 18% in 2005 from 10% in 1997. Foreign carmakers in rich countries are increasingly turning to India for parts, as low costs, relatively good technology base and access to cheap raw material make India highly competitive in its auto parts exports.

The main export markets are the USA, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the UK and Italy. Asia, Africa and the Middle East together take up 44% of India’s auto part exports.

Regulatory/Government efforts

Government efforts and regulatory frameworks are also key driving forces to the automotive industry in India. Currently, 100% foreign direct investment in the automotive industry, with no mandatory minimum level of investment is allowed. No local tie up is necessary since the sector has already been fully de-licensed and deregulated. This provides a strong impetus for global auto players to set up shop in India. Further, excise duty and custom taxes have also been kept competitive in order to make participation in the automotive industry conducive

On top of these, an Automotive Mission Plan 2006-2016 is also being drafted to develop the domestic sector, as well as the export market. It aims to develop India into a premier automotive hub. Moving forward, India targets to become one of the top 5 automotive economies by 2025

International Agreements

Trade/economic co-operation agreements between India and the region or other international markets will boost India’s exports of both automobile and parts to the region/international markets. Going forward, the potential agreements are: TVS Group’s plan to invest in Indonesia to manufacture 2-wheeler; FTA between India and ASEAN (negotiation in progress) would also offer opportunities for direct trade and investment between India and ASEAN countries; FTA with countries like China, Korea, Japan, Chile, etc

It’s always a pleasure to enjoy the fall of cool air on our body especially during hot summers. So you can attend marriage or any other personal functions or meetings with your face radiating beams of freshness. A powerful car air conditioner could greatly bring down the weariness caused by long drives especially automotive air conditioners in many cars which would be the dream cars of today’s youngsters.

However, automotive air conditioning is always not a standard addition provided in a car. Cars manufactured before 1940 lacked the feature as it was not invented by then. Gradually several enhancements were done to the system. The repair requires a trained professional’s help. People curious to get to know the bottom of things may attempt to do some repairs by themselves exercising caution.

In small air conditioned cars, there may be a slight drop in pick up of the vehicle but this will not be the case with big cars.

The Standard Parts of Automotive Air Conditioning

The automotive air conditioning system comprises seven major parts.

These parts are:

1) Compressor – As heart is to the human body, so is compressor to the AC system. It is basically a pump connected to the engine whose chief function is to compress the refrigerant from the evaporator coils and the compressor, or “the heart of the system,” is a pump that is attached to the engine. Its purpose is to compress and transfer refrigerant gas. The compressor has both an intake and a discharge side.

2) Condenser – It functions very much like the radiator and will most often have a similar appearance. The purpose of the condenser is to radiate or to give away heat, so whenever the AC is switched on condenser must have good supply of air for cooling purposes.

3) Evaporator – Its chief duty is to absorb heat. Besides getting rid of heat from inside your vehicle, it is also responsible for dehumidifying the car. In order to regulate the temperature of the evaporator, pressure introducing pressure regulating devices like orifice tube is necessary

4) The receiver is used in automotive air conditioning systems that employ thermal expansion valves as pressure regulating devices to ensure that this pressure regulating device receives the liquid refrigerant that it needs in order to function. In order to do so, it must separate gas and liquid.

5) The accumulator is used only on automotive air conditioning systems that have the orifice tube as the pressure regulating device, and its main function is to store surplus liquid refrigerant. In doing so, it prevents any liquid from entering the compressor, which could be detrimental to the system.

In spite of the modern advancements that have been made in the automotive field since the introduction of automotive air conditioning, it is still possible to maintain your own system even if it is an olden day style.

The automotive industry is amongst the leaders in search engine marketing. Search engine marketing is very important for businesses, as the automotive industry is hyper competitive and multi-faceted.

Competitive Advantage

According to a 2008 iprospect research study, 39% of search engine users believe that company websites that appear in top search results are the leaders in their field. Therefore, the effective utilization of search engine marketing gives a competitive advantage to automotive businesses. Search engine marketing is most helpful in intense competitive business like the automotive industry. By effectively using search engine marketing services like search engine optimization, Pay per click, and local search marketing, it is possible for automotive businesses to get ahead of the competition.

Local Search Marketing:

‘Local Search’ is method of submitting business details to a structured database of local business listings to reach users who search on specialized Internet search engines. Local Search Marketing allows businesses to target local customers. The advantage with local search marketing is that it allows automotive businesses to not only to reach online local target customers and to list on search engine results, it also allows to reach mobile Internet users very significantly.

Appeal to specific interests

Automotive businesses often have difficulty making their marketing campaigns appeal to different segments of customers. Different customers focus on different aspects while buying cars like cost, features, equipment, luxury, service, etc. It is possible for automotive businesses to target specific customers with definite intent only through search engine marketing. Search engine marketing allows automotive businesses to identify, define, and target customers in different marketing campaigns.

24/7 advertising

Search engine marketing allows customers to access businesses whenever they want. It makes business services available 24/7. While automotive businesses are not available offline round-the-clock, search engine marketing makes it possible to market their services online 24/7.

Cost effective

Search engine marketing is a cost-effective marketing method especially compared to print or television media. Automotive businesses can save excessive marketing cost by investing in search engine marketing, which leads to a better ROI.

While search engine marketing is important for any business, it is more significant for automotive businesses due to the intense competition in their field. Search engine marketing helps businesses succeed and helps automotive businesses to increase their return on investment.