Delphi says the media in China can play a crucial role in raising awareness of new technology issues such as automated driving and software hacking, with the latter issue especially proving contentious.
Addressing delegates at the recent Global Automotive Forum in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, Delphi China president, Simon Yang, said: “It is interesting – in the media – especially Chinese media – we have seen a lot of coverage about electrification.
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“Not many reports were made about cyber-security [on the other hand]. We have been trying to remind people about the potential risks.
“Someone could hack into your vehicle while you’re re driving – how dangerous that could be. [However] A lot of software is improved. For the new megatrends of automated driving and connectivity, Delphi has made a lot of investment.
“We have purchased a lot of technologies in this field. Media can play a role because there is not enough discussion in the media.”
Addressing the same conference, American Axle business director marketing Asia, Angela Gu, noted far tighter Chinese emissions standards were driving electrification development and supplier opportunity.
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By GlobalData“Of all the challenges we face, the greatest is increasingly stringent emissions standards,” she said. “Electrification is the only way out for us.
“For electric driveline systems, we are an old player and have a lot of proprietary technologies. The biggest challenge is cost and cost control of materials is very challenging.
“We need to start brand new whenever there is a new model. [If] OEMs can adopt unified standards, we can significantly reduce our costs.
“Everybody has realised the severity of regulations and OEMs have realised the demands from customers – such demands have transferred to suppliers.”
Such a rise in demand presents major opportunities for component manufacturers as the Delphi China chief noted: “For a supplier like us, content per vehicle is going to increase, that is for sure,” added Yang.
“Content increase will bring better financials for all suppliers, who will have better products to join this race.”
Gu made the observation Chinese OEMs had made a transition, moving from purely cost to quality. “We are seeing that gap become smaller and smaller,” she said.
“Chinese companies are paying more attention to technology. I think the future is electrification – we are going to see most vehicles electric.
“That means the current generation of axles will be replaced.”
