Indian automobile production increased at a CAGR of 12.2% over FY05-FY13, with a decline in Commercial Vehicle (CV) growth rate during FY09 and FY13. Globally, automotive industry suffered a decline in FY09 due to the global financial crisis and again on a decline in FY12 due to the European sovereign debt crisis. Apart from the global events, there are various internal risks the Indian OEMs need to consider: 1) regulatory risk due to excise duty hikes, decontrol of fuel pricing, etc., 2) market risks due to currency, inflation, interest rates, material cost, 3) industry risks due to increased competition, price war, etc. In this scenario, Indian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) need to constantly recalibrate their strategies to the changing market dynamics and associated risks.
A research on megatrends affecting the Indian CV industry has identified more focus on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as one of the megatrend. The Indian CV OEMs need to focus on TCO, if they have to stay ahead of competition. Customer spends more money on his business today, because of increased material costs, increased fuel prices, increased insurance premium, fuel pilferage, vehicle downtime, long waiting period in tolls, etc. This paper puts forward a case on adoption of connected vehicles by exploring opportunities for reducing TCO. Connected vehicles are about vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication and also communication to other devices. In this paper, TCO is broken down to different components, according to the vehicle life cycle. Each of the TCO components is analyzed and suitable connected vehicle applications are recommended against each of the component. The opportunities and challenges in adopting the connected vehicle technology in India are also being discussed.