Visteon India to add 1,500 people; mulls greenfield unit

CHENNAI: Global automotive electronics major Visteon Corporation will be setting up a display manufacturing facility, increase its engineering centres, and double its headcount to 3,000 in India, Global President-CEO Sachin Lawande, said on Friday.

The Indian-American Lawande also said the $3 billion revenue Visteon is looking at India as a major growth market as Indians are now willing to spend more and even a first time car buyer is looking at costlier models.

“We are setting up a one million units per annum display panel facility adjacent to our facility near here. This will be Visteon’s third display facility after Portugal and Mexico. The investment in this plant will be about $20 million and will start production next year,” he said.

Lawande also said Visteon is also mulling another greenfield facility in India similar to its current electronics and display plant near here and a decision will be taken early next year. “A new plant would involve an investment of about $35 million. The new plant will fructify when the current plant does a turnover of about $350-400 million,” he said.

According to him, currently Visteon’s Indian arm Visteon Electronics India Pvt Ltd is doing a business of about $200 million and has a workforce of about 500 people.

The Indian company is targeting a revenue of about $500 million by 2027.

Lawande said the company is in discussions with the car maker Suzuki which may be offering higher priced cars in the Indian market. “The sweet spot is the cars priced between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and by 2027, the market for the cars in this price range in India will be about 3.5 million units,” he said. In tandem with increase in production capacity, Visteon is also beefing up its engineering talent by opening new centres in Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, and expanding the new facility in Goa.

The engineering headcount in India is about 1,500 and it will be doubled soon. Globally, Visteon’s engineering talent is about 3,000 people now, Lawande said.

On hiring the required talent, he said that Visteon Technical and Services Center Pvt Ltd will work with educational institutions and provide internships to the students and later hire them.

Last year Visteon Corporation closed with a turnover of about $3 billion and the target for this year is $4 billion, Lawande said.

He also said the battery management systems (BMS) offers good opportunities for the company in the case of electric vehicles (EV).

Lawande also said Visteon is also working with an Indian two wheeler EV for digital infotainment systems but declined to disclose the company’s name.

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