India is set to overtake Japan to become the third-largest automotive market in the world by 2021, thus offering huge growth opportunity for garage equipment suppliers. Sluggish auto sales in recent months, drive towards electric vehicles, BS VI emission norms (affecting sales of diesel vehicles), etc are putting brakes on dealership expansion plans in the country. This is indirectly affecting the garage equipment industry. To exploit the full potential of the industry, equipment suppliers will have to align their business strategies to the new market realities. "Cover Story" focused on emerging trends in garage equipment industry.

Industries continue to evolve and several sectors across the board have seen varying levels of disruption. Among these sectors, the automotive space has been given immense focus, with elements such as fuel economy, emission control and improved driver control being the key concerns. While automotive makers exploring vehicles of tomorrow with advanced control systems like connected car, ADAS and autonomous vehicles there is a need to relook into the test tools. “Special Feature” drives through the missing connection between the automotives and software.

The automotive industry, which has been struggling in the last few months, witnessed seven months of consecutive decline in passenger car industry. SUV segment has performed better than the rest, attracting attention of global majors. Unlike the global auto industry where the demand is more for bigger SUVs, Indian consumers want compact, mid-size SUVs. “OEM Corner” analysed the SUV market as the battle to grab bigger share of the market become fierce.