Dassault Systèmes Sees India’s Automotive Supplier Ecosystem as Major Digital Engineering Growth Opportunity

Dassault Systèmes India believes the country’s automotive supplier ecosystem could become the next major growth engine for digital product development platforms as suppliers increasingly deal with rising vehicle complexity, multiple OEM relationships and expanding manufacturing data requirements. The company estimates that Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers together could represent a significantly larger opportunity than current design-focused deployments across automakers.

Ravikiran Pothukuchi, Director - Enterprise Apps at Dassault Systèmes India, said Indian automakers have already reached strong digital maturity in product development functions such as vehicle design, validation and new product introduction. According to him, the next stage of expansion will come from deeper digitisation of manufacturing operations and wider adoption of integrated engineering platforms across supplier networks.

Supplier Ecosystem Expected to Drive Next Growth Wave

Pothukuchi explained that the opportunity inside OEMs is now shifting toward downstream functions such as manufacturing execution, shop-floor digitisation and integration between design intent and manufacturing output. He said that if the current design-office business opportunity is considered “X”, the downstream manufacturing opportunity within OEMs could be nearly 10x larger, while the supplier ecosystem could represent a 50x expansion opportunity.

Automotive suppliers often work simultaneously with multiple OEMs, each following different engineering systems, timelines, data formats and development processes. Managing customer-specific schedules, product variants, bills of material and configuration updates across disconnected systems creates operational complexity for suppliers. According to Pothukuchi, modern digital platforms can now address these challenges more effectively than was possible a decade ago.

Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform is designed as a unified digital environment connecting engineering, simulation, manufacturing, product lifecycle management, supply chain operations and customer experience processes. The platform can integrate with non-native applications, enabling suppliers to manage multiple customer ecosystems within a common digital infrastructure.

Vehicle Complexity Is Increasing Digital Platform Demand

The growing transition toward electric vehicles and software-defined vehicles is creating additional pressure on suppliers and automakers to modernise engineering workflows. Electric vehicles combine battery chemistry, electronics, embedded software and mechanical systems, while software-defined vehicles require continuous synchronisation between hardware and software throughout a vehicle’s lifecycle.

Pothukuchi stated that future vehicle development will require stronger governance models because mechanical, electronics and software teams can no longer operate independently. He described modern vehicles as “computers on wheels”, where battery systems, electronics, materials, software and mechanical architectures must function together in a coordinated manner.

He also highlighted that the relevance of product lifecycle platforms now extends beyond vehicle production. Over-the-air software updates, telemetry information and real-world vehicle usage data are increasingly expected to flow back into engineering teams, enabling continuous improvement and lifecycle-based product management.

Recent Automotive Partnerships in India

Mahindra & Mahindra selected Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE cloud platform in June 2024 for end-to-end new product development across future automotive programmes. More recently, JSW Motors partnered with Dassault Systèmes to implement the platform for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle development activities in India.

Pothukuchi said EV-focused companies are increasingly adopting integrated engineering platforms because they simplify collaboration between electrical, software, battery and mechanical development teams. He added that many electric vehicle manufacturers are implementing Dassault Systèmes platforms either in partial deployments or across full end-to-end engineering workflows.

Legacy OEMs and EV Startups Show Different Adoption Trends

According to Pothukuchi, digital adoption approaches differ considerably between established automakers and newer EV startups. Legacy OEMs have invested heavily in internal IT infrastructure over several years and often prefer on-premise deployments due to intellectual property protection concerns. In contrast, born-electric startups are generally more comfortable adopting SaaS and cloud-based engineering systems because they do not operate legacy infrastructure environments.

However, he noted that traditional automakers are also gradually evaluating cloud-based systems as the industry moves toward more connected and software-driven vehicle architectures. The transition remains slower compared to startups, but momentum is steadily increasing.

Manufacturing Digitisation Becoming Strategic Priority

Pothukuchi said the next major transformation for automotive companies will involve extending the digital thread from engineering offices to manufacturing operations. Many companies still rely on partially paper-based workflows in manufacturing execution, creating gaps between engineering intent and actual production outcomes.

The opportunity lies in digitising shop-floor operations and creating continuous feedback loops where manufacturing issues are identified and sent back into engineering systems for correction and optimisation. According to him, automakers increasingly need to verify whether vehicles are being manufactured exactly according to intended design specifications and whether production challenges are being systematically integrated into future design improvements.

This shift also has direct implications for suppliers. As OEMs strengthen manufacturing digitisation and product governance systems, suppliers will need compatible digital infrastructure capable of supporting faster development cycles, increased product variants and stronger traceability requirements.

India Emerging as Key Technology Development Hub

Pothukuchi stated that India has become an increasingly important technology development base within Dassault Systèmes’ global network. He said India is currently the company’s second-largest technology development contributor after France and contributes more than one-fifth of the company’s overall development capacity.

He added that the company is increasingly focusing on developing technologies “in India for India” rather than treating the country only as an outsourcing destination. According to Dassault Systèmes, the Indian market opportunity is evolving in multiple stages, beginning with OEM-led design digitisation, followed by manufacturing integration and now expanding rapidly into supplier ecosystem digitisation driven by EV complexity and software-defined vehicle development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Dassault Systèmes see suppliers as a major growth opportunity in India?
Dassault Systèmes believes automotive suppliers represent a major growth opportunity because suppliers increasingly manage multiple OEM relationships, complex product variants and integrated engineering workflows. The company estimates that supplier ecosystem opportunities could be nearly 50 times larger than current design-focused deployments within OEMs. As electric vehicles and software-defined vehicles become more advanced, suppliers require unified digital platforms to coordinate software, electronics, manufacturing and mechanical engineering processes efficiently while improving traceability and lifecycle management.

What is the role of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform in automotive development?
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform acts as a unified digital environment connecting design, simulation, manufacturing, product lifecycle management and supply chain functions. It allows automakers and suppliers to manage multiple engineering systems and workflows through a common platform. The system also supports collaboration between software, electrical and mechanical engineering teams while enabling manufacturers to integrate shop-floor data, vehicle telemetry and over-the-air updates into engineering processes. This helps companies improve product governance, accelerate development cycles and manage increasing vehicle complexity more efficiently.