By submitting this form, you are agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Published- Jan 2021 Number of Pages- 107 2022 Update
Globally, frontal lighting is a key contributor to the overall styling of a vehicle and that`s why LEDs a are getting prominence. However, in India LEDs have gained market volume predominantly in rear and signal lighting.
The Indian automotive consumer has evolved and it wants the best in class features and exterior aesthetics in his vehicle. The super success of Renault Kwid in entry level segment is a testimony to that. The vehicle sold its first 100,000 units in just 4 months of its launch. Styling was a key contributor its success, but it had and still has halogen-reflector setup.
Lighting has always been an ignored feature by OEMs and consumers, not only in India but across the globe. The consumers eventually compare engine specs, comfort and safety features while shortlisting their purchase. Most of the test-drives of new vehicles are also done in day time giving little scope to test the vehicular lighting. OEMs on the other hand prefer the technology which offer them a good mix of price and performance.
This ignorance from both consumers and OEMs has resulted in a huge performance lighting aftermarket which are predominantly marketed as “accessories”. But, with growing emphasis on safety by present Indian government, LED lighting is gaining prominence.
The passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki with 51% market share, generated 40% of its total sales from rural market in 2019.The average transaction prices for passenger cars and two wheelers in India is~ $10,000-$13,000, and <$1,000 respectively. It is much lower than US and even China, where average transaction price for a passenger car is $33,600 and $18,200 respectively. Since, vehicle prices in India are comparatively lower, most of the vehicles are equipped with basic lighting technology to contain costs. Read our India automotive lighting market report to know more about it.
Some of the major market dynamics are listed below
Most of the new passenger vehicles and even face-lift launched in past 18 months already have rear LED tail lamp,LED fog lamps, halogen projector front headlamp setup.But, going forward we believe LED lighting penetration will grow in frontal lighting.
In India, about 27 Million vehicles (including two wheelers, passenger cars and commercial vehicles) were manufactured in 2019 and halogen lighting fitment accounted for majority of that.
Halogen paired with reflector setup is still the dominant luminary technology for vehicles in India but LED has been steadily gaining ground, especially in two-wheeler segment.
The increased effect of liquidity crunch and mandatory move towards the 5-year Insurance plan during second half of 2018, hindered the growth of two-wheeler Industry, but it was removed from August-2020 to boost 2W sales volumes.
HID(Xenon) lights could be only found in some D1 and above segment vehicles. However, there has been a recent shift towards projector setup. The new Swift. Mahindra Marazzo, Mahindra Scorpio, Tata Tigor have projector setup in their higher variants.
In the passenger vehicles segment, LEDs now have a sizable share in rear and signal lighting, but a comparatively lower share in front lighting. The new vehicles in passenger vehicle segment with LED include the likes of 2018 Maruti Suzuki Swift, 2018 Maruti Swift DZire,2019 Maruti Suzuki Baleno 2017 Volkswagen Vento, 2017 Honda City. All in all, LED penetration is growing at a higher pace in C1 segment and above. It is very limited in A and B1 segment which constitutes 27% of annual new car sales.
Honda two-wheelers offering LED lights on some of its best-selling models will be the biggest volume driver for automotive LED lighting market in India. There has been a recent market shift to premium scooters, kick-started by Honda in Q4 2017 when it launched Grazia, followed by TVS and very recently Suzuki.Except TVS Ntorq , all premium scooters have a standard LED frontal lighting.
Developing new automotive lighting technologies is a highly complex process, therefore most of the Indian suppliers have partnerships/technical collaboration with foreign lighting manufacturers.Most of the lighting suppliers in India have their manufacturing plant spread across the country and are typically in closer vicinity of their OEM customers.
Most of the automotive lighting manufacturers in India are foreign manufacturers who have setup partially or wholly owned subsidiary to cater to local demand.
Lumax and Fiem Industries are the market leaders in two-wheeler segment followed by UNO Minda, whereas Lumax and India japan Lighting is a leading provider of LED lighting for passenger cars. Hella India recently forayed in two-wheeler lighting segment in 2016, it was earlier only present in passenger car and commercial vehicle segment.
TVS and Honda have the most diversified supplier base, whereas the “ Premium “ motorcycle market leader Royal Enfield has three major LED lighting suppliers.
Lumax has commissioned a new LED manufacturing plant in Sanand, Gujarat to cater to the OEMs in that region. It is the biggest lighting supplier to the passenger car market leader in India, Maruti Suzuki and supplies to almost all automotive OEMs in the country.
Frontal lighting generates highest revenue for all lighting suppliers and it is no different in the case of automotive LED lighting market in India.
