City of Cars and Parts
Ah Paris, city of lights, city of culture, city ofcar parts? To outsiders, Paris is not thought of as an automotive center, but the vehicle and components business is a key economic driver not only here, but also for France. Paris is the country's most important geographic location in terms of industrial jobs, and local authorities claim the city and its surrounding area is the world's fourth-largest
Ah Paris, city of lights, city of culture, city of…car parts?
To outsiders, Paris is not thought of as an automotive center, but the vehicle and components business is a key economic driver not only here, but also for France.
Paris is the country's most important geographic location in terms of industrial jobs, and local authorities claim the city and its surrounding area is the world's fourth-largest automotive region, behind Detroit, Japan and Germany.
It is home to 156,000 auto-related jobs; 68 parts suppliers; and two of the world's largest auto makers, Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen, plus their huge research and development centers in Guyancourt and Velizy, respectively.
For 30 years, Paris has hosted the Equip Auto trade show, a mammoth affair held every other year that showcases everything from the latest diesel-fuel injectors to car-wash equipment.
Unlike many trade shows that have seen their attendance and exhibitors dwindle in recent years, Equip Auto organizers say the number of exhibitors this year jumped 10%.
Most of the growth is coming from companies outside Europe eager to showcase their wares. Participation from Non-European companies has increased 30% from 2003, and now accounts for 47% of all exhibits, organizers say.
Only 22% of exhibitors are French, outnumbered by other European companies from Germany, Italy and the European subsidiaries of U.S. companies.
China, alone, has more than 300 exhibitors, while Taiwan and Turkey each have 130. Iran also is a key exhibitor this year, with a pavilion representing the country's major equipment suppliers.
Show organizers say 138,000 visitors attended the show over six days in mid-October at the Paris Nord Exhibition Centre.
To put attendance in perspective, Detroit's largest annual trade show, the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, attracted about 35,000 attendees over four days, and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit attracted 773,422 visitors last January over nine days.
In North America, Equip Auto is known mostly as an aftermarket show, but many significant new technologies aimed at OEM customers were on display. Among the most significant at this year's show:
Delphi Corp. shows a vision-based lane-departure warning system that signals the driver if the car starts to drift out of its lane. The system uses a digital camera mounted in the rear-view-mirror housing that looks ahead and makes sure the vehicle is staying in its lane. That information is supplemented by vehicle speed and yaw data, so the computer knows if the vehicle is turning. Delphi is expected to start marketing the system in 2007.
LuK Automotive Systems shows off an active brake-assist module aimed at reducing the pedal forces necessary to brake today's increasingly powerful cars. The system works without sensors or complex electronics and requires no maintenance. It is expected to be ready for installation by early 2008.
Valeo SA demonstrates a blind-spot detection system that is a spin-off of the Raytheon Inc. technology used for aeronautics radar. The system uses electronic multi-beam scanning radar that continuously sweeps the blind-spot area. It monitors all objects in the adjacent lane from the side rear-view mirror to one car length behind the rear bumper. The multi-beam radar enables the system to ignore vehicles being passed, on-coming traffic and other objects that might cause false signals, so the driver only is notified of real potential risks, such as a vehicle in a blind spot. The company won its first contract in 2004, and the product is expected to be on the market in 2007.
Valeo also introduces a technology that allows data communications to travel along existing vehicle power wires by using only two wires to provide power and data for safety critical functions. The technology allows data to be directly accessible across the entire vehicle electrical network. Comfort and convenience functions can use a single wire for both power and data communications. Valeo says the system makes it possible to reduce costs up to 30%. Factory options and aftermarket equipment are both easier to install with this concept, reducing mounting time and wire count on average by half. It is scheduled to hit the market in 2008.
Beru AG introduces a diesel glow plug that integrates a combustion chamber pressure sensor and helps optimize combustion. Developed in cooperation with Texas Instruments Inc. and Hirschmann Group, the pressure sensor glow plug uses a “particularly robust” heating rod from the Beru Instant Start System and electronics from Texas Instruments. This enables the actual pressure sensor to be located outside of the combustion chamber in less harsh ambient conditions and all the electronics to be housed in the upper part of the glow plug. It is scheduled to be available in 2007.
Continental Teves AG shows off a steering-angle sensor that uses non-contact magnetic technology combined with other advanced sensors to improve reliability and reduce the complexity of sensor electronics currently used in today's electronic skid-control systems. It is expected to be available in 2008.
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