Bullish on BS VI norms, FEV India expands R&D capabilities and engineering team.

FEV India, the local arm of the Germany-based FEV which is one of the world’s largest independent engine development and vehicle technology service providers, is eyeing opportunities in the evolving local market.

The company, which caters to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers on the engine development front, NVH and vehicle applications, is building its R&D capabilities and consolidating its engineering team to take on the upcoming projects.

Talking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of SIAT 2017 held last month in Pune, Sushil Berry, managing director, FEV India, said, “We are overloaded with projects. All test benches (existing) are booked until the next two years. We work a lot on the friction optimisation side. We have a dedicated friction rig, where we have done friction mapping, not only for four-wheeler engines but also for two-wheeler engines. We are working on the engine development and engine testing procedures for BS VI emission standards. That is the reason, aligned with the market dynamics, why we have set up our vehicle application centre, and our chassis dynamometer is currently being commissioned. By the beginning of February, it will open for our customers. We even work with the Tier 1 suppliers who manufacture after-treatment systems for OEMs and engine manufacturers.”

Commenting on building R&D capabilities, he added, “We are expanding our capabilities. Currently, we are a team of around 200 people and I estimate that by the end of this year (2017), we will be a team of around 250-300 skilled engineers across all R&D areas.”

Offering his thoughts on the preparedness for BS VI emission norms and tapping market opportunities under this domain, Vijay Sharma, director, technical, FEV India, said, “The moment the BS VI emission norms were announced by the government, we were proactive enough to start building our technical capabilities into different areas. Having worked for the past 12 months on this topic, we are ready to partner Indian OEMs and help them with our expertise to achieve BS VI norms.”

Sharma underlined that OEMs are not only looking for BS VI-compliant solutions but are also looking for cost effective and reliable engineering solutions. “A lot of discussions are happening on the front of RDEs (real driving emissions), which means that we are not talking about the engines that are just efficient for the laboratory test cycles but the vehicles have to be tested on the road too. This means we need more cleaning of our engines. In other words, this means that vehicles are now no more just tested when they are being developed and produced, they are tested when they are in service as well.”

According to Sharma, the company has built world-class testing centres for engines and vehicles over the past six years in India. “We have already started projects in India. Discussions are already underway on the technology route for complying with BS VI emission norms, which could be the SCR route, the LNT route or DPFs and others,” revealed Sharma.

Targeting Rs 100 crore revenues by 2019 
FEV India registered substantial growth in India in 2016 with total business revenues of Rs 60 crore. “We will cross Rs 100 crore over the next three years,” said Sharma.

Commenting on SIAT 2017, Berry stated, “SIAT is one of the best platforms especially for automotive engineering companies to display their products and solutions. The footfalls here are that of the end users, which means the representatives of design and engineering teams and decision makers like the senior management officials from various OEMs.

"In line with the theme of sustainable mobility and demand for stricter emission norms, we have displayed our solutions in the areas of hybrids, engines high on electronics and after- treatment systems, engines with cylinder deactivation, variable compression ratios and other advanced features. I believe that switching to BS VI emission standards is a big and bold leap taken by the government,” signed off Sharma.