On a sunny day in March 2008, Hanns Windele, Vice President, Europe & India of Mentor Graphics woke up in his Munich residence to read "Ford says Tata to Jaguar" as the front-page headline in a British daily. Tata Motors had announced its entry into the international luxury car market as the company snapped up two of Britain's most famous names in the automobile industry, Jaguar and Land Rover, in a $2.3 billion deal with Ford, their American owner.

Windele was quick to sense the eagerness of Indian automakers to lay hands on high-end auto technology not only to produce cars for the developed world but also to adopt this technology for the domestic cars in India.

The good news for Windele was that the design managers for Jaguar and Land Rover were extensively using Mentor Graphics tools for simulation of the vehicle's electrical design process, including that of the wire harness. Even on the embedded side, JLR was using Volcano, a company acquired by Mentor.

In fact, all design process improvements by auto OEMs across the world are through Mentor’s solutions. With Mentor's strength in the auto design space, it is not a difficult task for Windele to convince the Indian automakers of the value of his products which provide top to bottom solution for auto design, one that integrates system modeling and prototyping, networking, module design and analysis, electrical distribution and PCB design.

By focussing on the growing auto industry in Europe in the last decade, Windele had steered Mentor to a commanding position in the continent. Now, he hopes to replicate this success in India, though he is cautious while laying his strategies for India. His understanding of the dynamics of the Indian market is evident when he says, sitting in his Munich Office, fully wrapped to take on shivering -10degree temperature. As he maps the Indian market landscape one wonders if he is based in India or Munich, Germany, “A cut-paste of all strategies which ensured our leadership in Europe will not hold good in India as both the countries have different industry presence with diverse growth arenas.”