Zaitsu: For Indian companies, the general style of business is for people to meet face-to-face and conduct business. We knew from the start that this would be a hurdle coming from Japan and having to deal with not just the distance but also time differences, however the circumstances made it so we could no longer visit directly in person, making it much more difficult to understand what the actual local conditions were.
Even communicating via email, because there is a 3.5 hour time difference between Japan and India, even if we sent email early in the morning, we would not always receive a reply immediately. This time lag made it difficult to grasp what they were thinking and determine what they wanted, and what the local opinions were, which all contributed to making it difficult to determine what our next steps should be.

Zaitsu and Terashima immediately made a visit to India as soon as conditions permitted, while continuing to monitor the COVID-19 circumstances.

Zaitsu: Being in Japan, we couldn't really fully determine what type of development style would be required when we were finally able to directly work on development together. Being able to communicate more directly immediately got development back on track.

Terashima: In India, they tend to use a development style where they build each individual function through trial and error, which differs from the style used in Japan where normally the specifications coordinated beforehand and then we move on to design. We had to have them explain exactly what they were looking for, and then actually physically work together in order to carry out development.

Terashima: When we visited India, we would exchange opinions based on our mutual experiences, and then repeatedly carry out tests. At one point, we received a request similar to what would be asked of a manufacturer for finished vehicles regarding how many kilometers the vehicle should be able to travel on a single charge. This was not something we could respond to on our own, but it was important and valuable to go through the process of listening to what it was they "wanted to do". At that time, we carried out what tuning we could locally from PCU side of things, such as switching up the DU012 parameters, and repeatedly carried out tests. Happily, we had multiple test vehicles there, which made the environment well suited to easily swapping out vehicles to carry out different trials, which helped us clarify what could be done from the PCU side of things, and what required coordination and adjustment from the side of the components with which the PCU would be combined. Even if it took more time, it was necessary to first actually try out things, and even if we felt this was a roundabout way of doing things, it served as a means and opportunity for communication and brought us closer to our goal.

Zaitsu: Directly listening to what their needs were, then responding, and then repeating this process over and over gradually helped us build those relationships of mutual trust. When we first met, it felt like our company was being tested to see how much we could achieve. I think I probably spent about a quarter of the year in 2021 in India. During my business trips, I would spend the entire day from morning to night together at their development locations working together on the vehicles and often having disputes. We repeated this process over and over, until one time on the last day of a trip when I was to return to Japan, they asked "When will you be able to back next?", showing that they were interested in having me return. It really showed me how their responses and approach to us changed thanks to our continued commitment.