More than car radios.

Delco Electronics Corp. is the world's leading supplier of automotive electronics.

Mention the name Delco to the typical Hoosier, and he or she will respond with something to the effect that it makes automobile radios up in Kokomo. Or is it batteries in Marion? Well, anyway, it's something

Something for cars. That's the standard response when residents of Indiana think of Delco Electronics Corp. Only Delco Electronics is considerably more than an automobile-radio manufacturer. The Kokomo-based company, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, manufactures a full line of automotive-electronics products, both for its parent GM and other domestic and foreign automotive manufacturers.

Delco's line of electronic components for the automotive industries includes an audio system with designed-in sound incorporating as many as eight computer-positioned speakers, the Head-Up Display that projects vehicle speed and turn-signal indicators on the windshield, steering-wheel-mounted climate and radio controls, and an array of electronics under the hood that increase fuel economy and lower emissions.

Each day, Delco's 30,000 employees in Indiana, the U.S. and 12 foreign countries--ranging from Singapore to Mexico to Luxembourg--build millions of electronic components and devices for automobiles. The Kokomo headquarters facility alone each day produces some 700,000 integrated circuits that go into everything from airbag sensor controls to antilock-brake modules to theft-deterrent components.

The company's Kokomo operations encompass 3.9 million square feet of space, including 327,000 in the Corporate Technology Center, which includes administration and engineering facilities. Nearly all of Delco's research and development is done in Kokomo, while the majority of the car radios that were the company's bread and butter in the beginning are now made at other plants.

Delco Electronics today is a roughly $4 billion company. It is one of Indiana's largest companies, and if it were not a subsidiary of another company, it would check in at 119 on the Fortune 500. While it began as the radio supplier for GM cars, its customer list now also includes Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Renault, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Opel, Audi and Daewoo. Big as it is, Delco remains poised for continued explosive growth, considering that the typical electronic content in every vehicle--the average in 1993 GM cars is $835--is expected to double by the turn of the century.