Innovation and sustainability in design took centerstage at the 19th Styling & Design Conclave 2025 organised by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The event saw participation from designers and professionals from organisation such as Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki India, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Stratasys and Autodesk among others.

G Sathiyaseelan, Chairman, SIAM Styling and Design Group and Vice-President, Ashok Leyland, shared his views on empathetic, inspirational and innovative approach towards technology and design,

Anuj Prasad, CEO and Founder, Desmania, expressed confidence in the bright future for automotive designers.

The event saw speakers acknowledging that automotive styling has become an old word, while design and sustainability are the modern buzzwords that indicate the direction in which the automotive sector must head.

“The level of design happening in India holds tremendous potential. We are at the threshold of a new era in design and innovation. Today, international organisations are looking to India for designs that cater to both local and global markets. Automotive design will help build the nation in a responsible manner,” said Prasad.

Prashant Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM stated that “Indian automotive designs today are as good as Italian designs.”

Samarth Gupta, Senior Technical Specialist & Mobility Lead APAC, Autodesk, said, “Everyone wants to own a vehicle because it is an expression of independence. The urban population landscape is changing due to climate change. New developments in geopolitics and the evolution of consumers’ trends and preferences are impacting the mobility landscape. We will need to evolve our auto design thinking amidst disruptions.”

Teofilo Plaza Garcia, Industrial Studio Head, Hero MotoCorp, said “Motorsports-based designs can be used for road-based vehicles, as indicated through Hero XPulse 210. These vehicles will no longer be as expensive as before.”

Rahul Pandita, Regional Head, Stratasys, stated that 3D block printing is a useful technique that has helped companies like McLaren bring racing designs to life quickly. “As design processes such as 3D block printing decrease the time taken, companies can quickly decipher whether a design is feasible or not,” said Pandita.

Dinesh Raman, Director, Transportation Design, KISKA Shanghai, opined that “As the years go by, greater use of AI will be made for design, thereby freeing up time for creative pursuits by automotive designers.”

VS Deka, Group Manager, Royal Enfield, said, “AI innovation is coming into our lives and we need to adopt the evolving technology. AI can be customised through training and then be scaled up as per requirements.”

Ferdinand Klauser, Global Partner & MD, Asia, KISKA Shanghai said, “India has a lot of potential in bringing about the transformation in mobility designing landscape.”

He also mentioned that though the future is unpredictable, it is possible to plan for it by understanding that consumer needs are transforming faster than the market.

Professor Kaustuv Sengupta of NIFT Chennai, stated, “Colour represents around 20 percent of the design language. Every 300 miles in our country, you see a new colour context. Human beings see a small spectrum of colours. Colours affect us psychologically. We see what we want to see.”

Rajesh Gogu, Vice-President (Design), Maruti Suzuki India, revealed that the company decided to create a completely new design for the fourth generation of the Dzire. The design became a success despite a 55 percent market share for SUVs.

“The trends on the road are changing, as demand for sedans have reduced while that of SUVs have grown. Designing can reinvent declining segments or products to make them popular again. Innovation is not just about technology, it is also about shape, form, aerodynamics, performance and more. We can design our vehicles that can reduce the carbon footprint offering better fuel efficiency and value to customers,” averred Gogu.

While describing the role of AI in automotive designing, Harikrishnan AK, Delivery Manager, TCS Design, said, “AI image generators can be used for inspiration, exploration and for happy accidents but there are challenges of confidentiality and originality. We need to harness the full potential of AI by customisation and fine-tuning.”

Speaking about designing in the commercial vehicle segment, Pravin Gaikwad, Head of CV Design, Tata Motors, said, “We have adopted multi-powertrain strategy. It is possible for the form to get you the trust of the customer. Form is actually helping us to define many ideas. We are leveraging tech intelligence like telematics to design something very unique.”

He shared an insight on how Tata Motors was using space intelligence as a new design direction for making Tata Prima trucks and a new space-saving concept called Tata YU.

The SIAM Styling and Design Conclave also presented automotive design students of MIT (Maharashtra Institute of Technology), ADYPU (Ajeenkya DY Patil University) and NID (National Institute of Design) an opportunity to present their design prototypes. Vedant Barve, a student at MIT, won the first prize for an electric cruiser scooter concept.

“When we began, India had only two design schools. Today, there are over 1,500 design schools producing a strong talent pool for automotive design. We need to be transformative and move toward defining automotive design that is human-centric and sustainable,” added Prasad of Desmania.

“To make India into a global design hub, change that helps India use aspects of its culture while competing at a global level is needed in the academic curriculum,” concluded Sumer Singh, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi.

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GAC International and Grab have established a strategic partnership to deploy 20,000 electric vehicles (EVs) across six Southeast Asian countries within the next two years. The agreement, signed on 7 January 2025, marks a shift for GAC from product exports to the expansion of an integrated ecosystem comprising products, services and data.

The collaboration focuses on the introduction of three models under the AION brand: the AION Y, AION ES and AION V. These vehicles will be integrated into Grab's fleet to serve the taxi and ride-hailing segments. The AION V, which holds a Euro NCAP five-star safety rating, is positioned as the flagship SUV for the region, while the AION Y and ES models target the high-volume electric taxi market.

Beyond vehicle supply, the companies intend to integrate the Grab driver app directly into GAC’s intelligent cockpit systems. This technical link is designed to improve order acceptance efficiency and driver safety. The partnership also covers the development of aftersales support, data value mining and charging infrastructure to support the large-scale deployment of EVs in the region.

Xia Xianqing, President of GAC Group, attended the exchange, while the agreement was signed by Wang Shunsheng, Vice President of GAC International, and Dylan Choon, Regional Manager of Strategic Partnerships at Grab.

The move comes as the Southeast Asian EV market reported a 50 percent YoY sales increase in 2024. By leveraging Grab’s user base, GAC aims to build brand awareness and gather market insights for future model development. The initiative is intended to reduce regional transport emissions in line with carbon neutrality targets.

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Visteon Corporation has announced an expanded technology partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra that will see its next-generation SmartCore Pro cockpit domain controller deployed in Mahindra’s XUV7X0 SUV lineup.

Unveiled at CES 2026, the SmartCore Pro builds on the SmartCore system introduced in the Mahindra XUV700 in 2021. The new system integrates cockpit electronics, surround view camera technology and telematics on Mahindra’s Adrenox+ platform. It features a three-display configuration supporting vehicle information, infotainment, ADAS visualisation and connectivity, alongside an integrated 360-degree camera system.

Francis Kim, Vice-President of Global Sales & Commercial Excellence and General Manager for Rest of Asia, Visteon, said, “The automotive industry is shifting from discrete systems to fully integrated digital platforms, and India is among the fastest-moving markets in this transition. This partnership demonstrates how strategic OEM collaboration can accelerate time-to-market for complex technologies while laying the foundation for software-defined vehicles.”

Alongside the Mahindra announcement, Visteon also showcased the production specifications and OEM implementations of its High-Performance Compute solution built on the Snapdragon Cockpit Elite platform. The solution follows Visteon’s collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies announced at Auto Shanghai 2025 and is now being demonstrated with multiple global OEMs.

The High-Performance Compute platform supports centralised vehicle architectures and software-defined vehicle strategies. It enables on-device AI processing, multi-display support, multi-user experiences and personalised cockpit features. The system uses the Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU and enhanced NPU AI performance, while Visteon’s cognitoAI Concierge digital assistant operates using the company’s QWEN 7B model.

Uday Dodla, Vice-President, Product Management, Visteon, said, “This High-Performance Compute solution addresses a critical challenge our OEM partners face as they transition to centralized architectures. By consolidating multiple ECUs into a single, powerful platform, we're enabling automakers to reduce complexity and costs while delivering the sophisticated AI-driven experiences that consumers increasingly expect.”

Mark Granger, VP, Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, said, “Visteon's demonstration of its High-Performance Compute solution on the Snapdragon Cockpit Elite platform highlights the momentum toward centralized, software-defined architectures that will power the next era of intelligent, connected vehicles.”

Visteon said the platform is designed to support a common architecture across vehicle segments, allowing OEMs to scale features while consolidating electronic control units and supporting long-term cost efficiencies.

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French tier 1 supplier Valeo and Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, have inked a strategic partnership for Advanced Rider Assistance Systems (ARAS).

The partnership will focus on enhancing rider safety by introducing advanced sensing, perception and intelligent technologies tailored specifically for two-wheelers across both entry-level and premium segments, including the OEM’s emerging electric mobility portfolio under VIDA. 

As part of the understanding, they will focus on ARAS by leveraging Valeo’s radar and smart camera tech equipped in Hero MotoCorp’s two-wheeler portfolio. This will not only enhance safety for two-wheeler users in India, but is also expected to drive awareness amongst customers globally.

The partners state that they have already achieved success in its proof-of-concept systems designed to protect both riders and pedestrians.

Marc Vrecko, CEO, Valeo’s Brain Division, said, “We are truly excited to partner with Hero MotoCorp to deliver solutions that will significantly enhance rider safety and create a more secure riding experience for millions of people. This collaboration is a key step in our strategy to bring advanced technology to the rapidly growing mobility market in India and globally.” 

Ram Kuppuswamy, COO, Plant Operations, Hero MotoCorp, said, “At Hero MotoCorp, we are redefining the future of mobility by bringing advanced technology to our products. Our partnership with Valeo marks a significant stride in making mobility smarter, safer and more sustainable with next-gen advanced rider assistance systems. Together, we aim to make two-wheeler safety accessible to everyone and set new standards for innovation and protection globally.” 

The ARAS architecture is developed as a digital co-pilot for riders, providing a 360deg safety envelope around the vehicle, it provides real-time sensing and intelligent alerts. It uses a radar-based system that can provide critical information/warnings such as Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Distance Warning (DW), Lane Change Assist (LCA), Blind Spot Detection (BSD) and Rear Collision Warning (RCW).

On the other hand, the vision system uses high-resolution cameras to provide Pedestrian Detection, Lane Detection, Traffic Sign Recognition and Lane Departure Warning.

Through intelligent image processing the system identifies road signs and obstacles, even in low-light conditions. Through the combination of radar and vision system, the two-wheeler encompasses a comprehensive safety system for two-wheeler users.

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SiMa.ai has announced its first integrated capability resulting from a collaboration with Synopsys. The joint solution provides a blueprint to accelerate architecture exploration and virtual software development for automotive Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). These chips support applications including Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI).

The partnership aims to deliver architectures required for software-defined vehicles. The blueprint allows customers to begin the design and validation of custom AI SoCs and ‘shift left’ software development before silicon is available. This process is intended to reduce development costs and accelerate vehicle time-to-market.

The blueprint provides pre-integrated SoC virtual prototypes and a tool workflow using solutions from both companies.

For Architectural Exploration:

• SiMa.ai MLA Performance and Power Estimator (MPPE): Enables customers to size machine learning accelerator designs for specific workloads.
• Synopsys Platform Architect: Used to model workloads and analyse performance, power, memory, and interconnect trade-offs before RTL design.

For Verification and Validation:

• Synopsys Virtualiser Development Kit (VDK): Facilitates software development using a virtual SoC prototype, which can accelerate vehicle time-to-market by up to 12 months.
• SiMa.ai Palette SDK: Supports machine learning workflows for edge AI applications.
• Synopsys ZeBu Emulation: Delivers pre-silicon hardware and software validation to ensure architectures meet workload requirements.

Krishna Rangasayee, Founder & CEO at SiMa.ai, said, "We are pleased with how well the two teams have worked together to quickly create a joint solution uniquely focused on unlocking physical AI capabilities for today's software defined vehicles. Our best-in-class ML platform, combined with Synopsys' industry-leading automotive-grade IP and design automation software creates a powerful foundation for innovation across OEMs in autonomous driving and in-vehicle experiences."

Ravi Subramanian, Chief Product Management Officer, Synopsys, said, "Automotive OEMs need to deliver software-defined AI-enabled vehicles faster to market to drive differentiation, which requires early power optimisation and validation of the compute platform to reduce total cost of development and time to SOP. Our collaboration with SiMa.ai delivering an ML-enabled architecture exploration and software development blueprint supported by a comprehensive integrated suite of tools significantly jumpstarts these activities and enables our automotive customers to bring next-generation ADAS and IVI features to market faster."

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