That involves gearing up for the accelerating EV sales worldwide in the coming years. Marelli, which has significant business tied up in traditional powertrains and exhaust systems, is taking a regional approach to electrification, Slump said.
The company sees market demands and government policy driving the quick adoption of EVs in Europe and China, with much slower adoption in the United States, Brazil and India, where it has operations. The company plans to hire about 1,000 engineers in India to beef up its technical operations there.
Marelli intends to build components for internal combustion engine vehicles in those markets as automakers look to regionalize their supply chains. In Europe and China, however, it will retool plants to produce EV components for those markets, Slump said.
“You could say bringing together the former Kansei and Marelli is hard because it’s a big footprint of 140 plants,” he said. “Or you could say, ‘Wow, we have 140 plants to localize closer.’ ”
“So we’re doing a lot more in Brazil and India with customers, where we believe the long tail of ICE powertrain will continue, while we shift to electrification in, say, Europe.”