Late Engineering Changes Delay Vehicle Launches In India: Study

2025-09-12 02:10:11

(MENAFN- KNN India) New Delhi, Sep 12 (KNN) A study by Vector Consulting Group has revealed that late-stage engineering changes are a major reason for vehicle launch delays in India, especially in the growing electric vehicle (EV) segment.

About 80% of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) said such changes disrupt production schedules, affect supplier capacities, and weaken India's competitiveness in the global automotive market.

Ideally, engineering changes should drop sharply as product development progresses - below 15% during pre-production, under 8% during post-launch production, and around 3% after stabilisation. However, only 6% of OEMs follow this ideal trend.

The report found that 81% of OEMs face severe misalignment, leading to repeated validations, rework, tooling modifications, and software revisions even in later stages.

The impact on suppliers is also significant. About 57% of suppliers said they are constantly firefighting due to frequent late changes.

Around 76% face longer lead times, 52% struggle with on-time delivery, 43% encounter cost overruns, and 83% say they cannot focus on adopting new technologies.

These delays also affect product quality and reliability for 33% of OEMs, raise warranty costs for 20%, and delay readiness of dealer networks and service infrastructure for 58%.

The study points to three main reasons behind these late changes - delayed or missing manufacturing engineering input in the early design phase (60%), delayed supplier feedback (47%), and unstable or shifting design freezes (13%).

Vector Consulting Group recommends shifting from milestone-driven to flow-based project execution, involving suppliers early in design, limiting work-in-progress to prevent overload, and clearly prioritising changes.

If implemented, these practices could cut late engineering changes by 20–30%, reduce time-to-market by 30–50%, shorten supplier response times by 20–30%, and improve efficiency by 15–25%.

(KNN Bureau)

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