Saint-Gobain Sekurit takes the pole position in futuristic automotive glazing.
Saint-Gobain Sekurit is a global leader in windshields and window glasses for automobile manufacturers. In India, Sekurit supplies glasses to all leading original equipment manufacturers of cars, commercial vehicles and three wheelers. This includes
the latest entrant, South Korea’s Kia Motors.
Sekurit India has three plants to serve the three automotive hubs at Chennai, Pune and Bhiwadi. While Bhiwadi takes care of supplies to the Maruti Plant at Manesar and Gurgaon, the Honda Plant in Tapukara, the Pune factory supplies to car manufacturers in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Chennai caters to southern India.
Value added glasses…
A Dinakar, Managing Director, Sekurit India, described the vast strides made in producing value-added glasses.
Dinakar pointed to increasing interest in switching to more advanced, thermal efficient special glasses for windshields. “India is a hot country and needs the comfort of cool travel. This need isn’t getting addressed by the OEMs riding on cost pressures. While we succeeded in massively expanding the pie for green glasses for windshields and windows at competitive prices, the shift has to be to the segment of thermal control windshields and glasses. These would not only enhance passenger comfort but also reduce the load on HVAC thus significantly improving fuel efficiency of the vehicle.” he said. Sekurit’s efforts in readying glasses with thermal control and its research efforts in the direction of bettering the available products is especially welcome.
Sekurit also offers glasses that provide acoustic comfort. Automotive glasses have a polyvinyl butyral layer embedded between two glass panes. This prevents shattering of glass. Notwithstanding safety, these glasses can be bettered to achieve acoustic performance as well.
The Windshields of the Future…
Heads-up Display (HUD) is the latest global trend. In this, information presently displayed in the dashboard instruments can be directly displayed on the windshield. This would not only enhance the driving experience but also ensures that the driver doesn’t compromise on his safety and continue to focus fully on the road ahead. This advanced technology is readily available with Sekurit. Dinakar said that the needed systems and materials are locally available and thus Sekurit will have a competitive advantage in reaching this out to the market.
He said the cost of this system inbuilt in a new car will be marginal. He said that Maruti Udyog has evinced interest in using this product in one of its high-end cars. He is confident over this disruptive technology gaining wide acceptance for its elegance and comfort With the need for Electric vehicles (EV) catching more faster than ever, Sekurit has a wide offer under its wings for EVs already
“We have readymade glazing packages of different configurations for EVs and look forward to servicing the requirements of these next-generation automobiles,” said Dinakar.
