Optibelt all set to crack aftermarket.

Just eight months old, Optibelt Power Transmission India is ready to storm the independent automotive aftermarket with a comprehensive range of timing belts and ribbed belts under its CarPOWER label for passenger cars across the price spectrum..

The Indian subsidiary of the European market leader for drive belts used in industrial and vehicle applications has appointed one distributor each for the northern and western regions, and is looking out for representatives in the east and south, MD Torsten Seifried told Autocar Professional..

The company’s strategy is to connect with the repair workshops and parts retailers through a single intermediary layer consisting of carefully selected regional distributors who will create awareness of its premium-quality brand at the workshop level and thus generate a demand pull.

. Since its belt/tensioner systems include bearings as an important functional component, Optibelt is seeking tie-ups with distributors of major bearing brands on the lines of the agreement it has with FAG Bearings India to distribute its industrial belt products to the unorganised sector, Seifried said. Optibelt sells only its “OE quality” HSN rubber timing belts in most other markets worldwide, but for India it has reluctantly decided to conform to the industry practice of offering a cheaper chloroprene rubber (CR) range as well in the aftermarket, and has developed CR variants for 70 percent of the models..

“Our HSN belts, made of high-temperature-resistant rubber, run for 80,000 to 100,000km, whereas CR belts typically last for 20,000 to 60,000km. With engines getting smaller, the belt has to withstand ever increasing temperatures because it is getting closer to the engine. In such conditions the life of a CR belt could be even lower,” he pointed out..

“A more important reason why we prefer HSN is that if a belt fails, the cost of repair is exponentially higher than the cost of the belt itself. Moreover, in Europe, the labour cost for replacing a belt is more than 10 times the cost of the belt itself,” he added..

For an Indica diesel, the labour charge for replacing a belt, at Rs 350–400, exceeds the price of a CR belt at Rs 325. The customer is thus actually spending less if he goes in for an HSN belt, even though it costs around twice as much double at Rs 625–700.

The company is also preparing to introduce its ribbed belts in EPDM and CR versions for auxiliary drives. The high-performance EPDM belts can save up to 5 percent of fuel because their low slippage on the pulleys mean the maximum engine power is transferred to the belt drive system..

As there is less heat generated by slippage, Optibelt’s RedPOWER EPDM belts deliver energy savings of up to 12 percent in industrial applications. On passenger car and truck engines an efficiency boost of at least three percent is achievable, he said — and the belt too lasts longer..

What makes Optibelt special is its emphasis on OE-quality products for the aftermarket, he revealed. “We are not a focused OE supplier, but many OEMs still prefer Optibelt because we are able to deliver belt drive solutions where others have failed. Moreover, we are very flexible and will develop belts for specific requirements, even if the volumes are limited.” .

Accordingly the company is targeting the aftermarket first, in order to get a deeper understanding of the overall market and where it is headed. It will next roll out its TruckPOWER label for commercial vehicles above nine tonnes and heavy earthmovers, leveraging off the high-volume distribution infrastructure of one of the leading suppliers of systems and consumables for on- and off-highway vehicles..

As volumes pick up, it will open a warehouse for the subcontinent. At present its sales operations worldwide are supported by a central warehouse at Höxter in North Rhine Westphalia at which it keeps over 9,000 belt sizes and variations permanently in stock. Production will follow at a later stage, driven by the aftermarket demand and not the OEM requirement, Seifried insisted. Response from the domestic passenger car OEMs has been anything but encouraging, but Optibelt India has already begun working with MAN Force Trucks, and with VE Commercial Vehicles for its new Asia Global Truck. It is also supporting Bosch Ltd in Bangalore on the development of BS IV solution for Tata buses, he revealed..

In fact its first breakthrough here was with Tata Motors’ Lucknow bus plant, which was experiencing severe failures with belts in the field. “All these companies know that if they have any problem with a belt, we are right here for them, and our flexibility allows us to give them the right solution they need,” Seifried said..

The company’s European clients in India, such as Daimler, BMW, and Volkswagen right now buy directly from Optibelt in Germany or Ireland. “Because of the tax benefits that accrue from localisation, they will only source from Optibelt India if we are manufacturing domestically, even though our factories in Europe are already able to supply their Indian requirements at competitive prices,” he added.