Automobile Engineering
Automobile engineering involves study of designing and manufacturing of automobiles. Core areas of automobile engineering include understanding the mechanism of vehicle chassis, internal combustion engine and motor transport affairs. Automobile engineers’ job is to maximize feasibility of automobiles while keeping the costs to minimum.
There are mainly three streams in automobile engineering like product or design engineering, development engineering and manufacturing engineering. With rapid growth in automobile sector, a great demand of automotive engineers is expected.
Educational Requirements:
There are various courses of automobile engineering in India including Diploma Course after 10th, Undergraduate Degree (UG) Courses such as BE/B.Tech (4 years) after 10+2 with science stream, Post Graduate (PG) Degree Courses such as ME/M.Tech (2 years) after BE/B.Tech and Doctoral Degree Courses such as PhD (1-2 years) after ME/M.Tech.
To get admission in UG programme, students need to appear in the entrance examinations such as Birla Institute of Technology and Science Admission Test (BITSAT), All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE), Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Exam (IIT JEE), University of Delhi Combined Entrance Examination (CEE), Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Vellore Institute of Technology Engineering Entrance Exam, etc. conducted at both state as well as national level.
Where To Study:
Notable institutions in India that offer courses in automobile engineering are:
- National Institute of Technology Raipur
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur)
- IIT Hyderabad- Hyderabad
- Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai
- Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Bhopal
- Bharath Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai,
- Sastra University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
- Annamalai University Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu
- Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering, Banglore
- SCMS School of Engineering and Technology (SSET), Cochin
- PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
- Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai
- SRM University, Chennai
Skills Required:
An automobile engineer must have good analytical skills and logical thinking ability to understand technical concepts.
Scope and Growth:
Automobile industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India which is creating more job opportunities in both public as well as private sector. According to the reports by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer (SIAM) for 2015, India is the seventh largest producer of vehicles in the world. Another report released by SIAM for April-March 2015 predicts growth in overall automobile exports.
Besides India, there is a great demand for automobile engineers in countries like the U.S., Japan and China.
Top Employers in India:
- Bajaj Auto Pvt. Ltd.
- Apollo Tyres
- Ashok Leyland
- Hindustan Motors
- MRF Ltd
- Hero Honda Motors
- Maruti Suzuki
- Hyundai India.
Salary Prospects:
No doubt, as with almost every industry, private companies offer much better salaries as compared to government departments.
An automobile engineer can earn between Rs. 250,000 and Rs. 600,000 per annum (Source: PayScale.com). Vehicle manufacturers pay the highest salaries whereas product development engineering firms pay less to automobile engineers. Add to this that automobile engineers have a fair amount of job security as they gain experience.
Though, there are plethoras of benefits for automobile engineers, it comes with some challenges too. Automobile engineers are required to work under a lot of pressure as well as have to pay attention to detail. Some other challenges include decline in the automobile industry in the past five years due to high level of training and specialization required, which is generating competition in the field. But as per different industry estimates, the number of jobs in automobile engineering field is expected to increase in the next few years.
