Leading global automotive supplier of interior, exterior, seating, cockpit electronics, and passive safety systems, Yanfeng Automotive Interiors is augmenting its focus on integrating HMI, electronics and lighting into its core products. The company is also looking at system development by optimising integration across its business units’ product portfolio. For example, improved integration of the instrument panel with the passenger airbag targeting cost reduction and improved system performance would be one of such initiatives.
Speaking to Mobility Outlook, Varadan Devanathan, President, Yanfeng India Automotive Interior Systems (YIAIS), said the company is increasingly focusing on sustainable and lightweight materials and designs to reduce its carbon footprint. To do this, it is building new capabilities in terms of software, hardware, system engineering and material science. According to him, all the critical elements of its Smart Cabin strategy are to create an exciting and safe in-car experience. The company builds these capabilities worldwide, and the teams work together globally to drive innovation and make Smart Cabin vision a reality.
On the product strategy and the progress of its smart cabin programme, Devanathan said the company continues to utilise its current product portfolio and technology capabilities at the business unit level. “We are also mapping and integrating the same at the company level. Our objective is to build a core electronics interior capability to provide our customers with ‘Smart Cabin’ solutions. This was also a good chance for us to prove our product strategy. With close to one full year’s efforts, our smart cabin XiM21 made it global, bringing the most advanced experience for the OEMs and the end-users.”
According to him, the Smart Cabin is the main trend in the automotive industry. The company’s strategy is to become more competitive by upgrading traditional products with new technology and creating user-centric smart cabin product portfolios. The Smart Cabin vision is based on the researched trends across the globe, and relevant latest technology, especially based on the feedback from its customers. “Our Smart Cabin vision helps us choose what technologies to invest in, what innovation projects to focus upon, in order to make sure that our future product portfolio is exactly what our customers want, thus accelerating our global growth,” he said.
Experience In Motion
Elaborating on XiM21, Sandeep Kulkarni, CEO, YIAIS, said that based on the in-depth study of the megatrends and the effects of the same on the interiors of the vehicle, the company undertakes various innovation projects. Budgets and resources are allocated based on these studies so that the innovation teams undertake those projects. All these ‘ready to launch’ and ‘ready to productionise’ concepts of innovation which illustrate futuristic trends, are demonstrated in a concept car built at the company’s innovation centre by a specialised team. These kinds of the concept car are built once in two years and displayed in the major auto shows across the globe. XiM21 is one such concept car built on the theme of ‘Experience in Motion’ in 2021, which is shortly described as XiM21, he said.
Kulkarni said that the concept car provides a customisable environment, connected services, and seamlessly integrated intuitive interaction technology that responds to passengers’ needs and desires based on personal preferences and specific use case scenarios.
According to Devanathan, all displays, smart surfaces, and components in the XiM21 have been designed for intuitive interaction. For the driver, the dual 12.3-inch curved display serves as a central control unit for the cabin environment. While an additional sliding 10.1-inch display in the instrument panel enables the front-seat passenger to comfortably engage and interact with the vehicle’s settings and infotainment system. It also allows the front-seat passenger to keep an eye on children in the back and control the content they watch.
Yanfeng started its operations in India in 2012 in Gujarat as a joint venture for the interior product portfolio. A couple of years later, it became the solely owned subsidiary of Yanfeng Global. Currently, the Indian arm has three manufacturing footprints in Sanand, Pune and Chennai, supporting customers in these regions primarily for passenger vehicles. In addition, it has also set up an engineering centre in Pune as a part of its global engineering network to support the requirements of local and global programmes.
Devanathan said India is a key growth market for the company for various reasons, including policies related to the auto industry and transition to BS-VI. Although the automotive market in India was significantly impacted in the recent past by COVID, he believes that there is potential exists in the Indian auto market, which is expected to grow considerably in the future.
More than the fluctuating numbers in the recent past, what is more interesting is the shift in the market share relative to the vehicle segments. Kulkarni said that SUV in the A/B segment is showing a consistent and exponential rise. “At the same time, we see the taste of the millennials changing with respect to styling and expectations towards interiors. Aesthetics, illumination inside, touch & feel and materials used for interior components are a very important factors while deciding overall features of the vehicles,” he mentioned.
Cost-competitiveness
Yet another critical factor in the Indian market is cost competitiveness, Devanathan pointed out. OEMs today expect the latest technology at comparable local costs. The company supports customers by providing the right mix of technologies using its easy access to global technological developments and innovations. In addition, early customer engagement makes it possible to address the requirements by selecting the right processes upfront to bring in cost competitiveness with added features. With OEMs starting to implement technological products/features, the company sees immense growth potential.
YIAIS manufactures several products, including cockpits, instrument panels, door panels, floor consoles and trims. In addition, the company has an in-house paint shop, cut sew wrap, flaming, foaming, milling scoring, membrane lamination, hot press lamination facilities, and conventional processes. Paired with deep vertical integration in engineering and easy access to global expertise in the new technology, its facilities in India will rapidly bring new solutions to the local market, averred Kulkarni. The company has also established and developed a supplier base locally to manage secondary processes such as chroming, printing and decorative coating, he added.
Engineering Centre
Talking about the engineering centre, Sanjay Vaidya, Director of Engineering, YIAIS, said the global engineering centre in India supports its domestic engineering requirements apart from supporting the needs of global design and development. The centre has a team of more than 100 professionals, and it follows the global standardised processes irrespective of region or location. Moreover, it is seamlessly connected with the global engineering network to ensure swift response to customers. For instance, the technical centre in China has the full capability of design and development, testing and validation that can conduct any DV/PV (design verification and production validation) test that supports its product lines. YIAIS leverages this capability to shorten development time and satisfy varying customer requirements. “With successful launches for interior products for MG Motor India, BMW and Stellantis in India, the team is now engaged in upcoming programmes with full design and development responsibilities,” Vaidya added.