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Understanding and comparing LED performance seems a simple task: get the datasheets, compare numbers for light output, efficacy and lumen maintenance, and make a decision.
The Leaf, to be built in Japan and in Smyrna, Tennessee, USA, goes on sale in late 2010.
“People search better safety and comfort. Xenon is a great lever to improve them but the price paid by the user is still too high”
Hans Schwabe, CEO of Osram’s Speciality Lighting, which is a combination of Automotive Lighting and Display/Optic, studied electrotechnics and business administration at Munich university. He started at corporate headquarters of Siemens in Munich 1987, in the Strategic Planning Department. In 1991 he took over the product management of automotive light sources for headlights (Halogen, Xenon). In 1998 he moved to the BU Display/Optic keeping various senior management positions within R&D, Application Engineering and Sales & Marketing. In 2002 he was nominated as Managing Director for OSRAM Taiwan until 2005. In 2005 he resumed responsibility as CEO of Display/Optic. After merging Display/Optic and Automotive Lighting into Specialty Lighting in January 2009, he was nominated as CEO of this new business unit.
DVN: Hello, Hans. Thanks for talking with us. In automotive lighting, experts are talking about new technologies but filament bulbs are still very important to the automotive industry despite these fast-moving new technologies. How do you analyze that we still use several filament bulbs developed 50 years ago?
H.S.: Several reasons explain it:
– It is a proven concept, bulbs like H4 or H7 are simple, easy to use, and cost-efficient. With less than €1, we have a bulb with accurate filament position, low and high beam, and efficacies of > 15lm/W.
– Much progress has been made in quality (better production tolerances thanks to new optical measurements with 5-axis adjustment) and in productivity, year after year.
– A consequent extension of product range and performance features is mandatory to keep that position with regard to growing AFS functionalities.
General Motors reached a deal last week to sell Saab to Koenigsegg Group AB.
The companies signed a stock purchase agreement that would give the group 100% of Saab’s shares, GM Europe said in a statement.
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has said that VW could be interested in a tie-up with Suzuki.
The US government has said it is suspending the U.S. ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program as the program’s US$3bn budget has run dry.
Porsche and Volkswagen might merge in 2010 instead of 2011 as currently planned, German newspaper Die Welt reported, citing VW’s finance chief.
These may be lean times for many in the industry, but some skills are in short supply. A report in German business newspaper Handelsblatt suggests the German automotive industry needs more highly qualified engineers, especially in the field of electronics and emerging green technologies.
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