MiNoR TwEaKs...

The recent news of hike in the fuel and petroleum prices has ofcourse did give birth to the buzz in the automotive market as well as in the AAM AADMI's (netaji's lingo) arena. Public being violent, (irrespective of the non-violent mass movements by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev which had succeded to drag attention of a majority of our Nation-mates, didn't even make a fuss in the ears of the public and ofcourse not in the minister's a week later) has been found honking in the streets of our City-lanes, improvising and popping up with newer ideas of protests, still Mantriji has lent us a deaf ear. Oh.. c'mon, it sounds like a clich'e so hopping directly onto the current automobile lane, there has been a lot of clamor making in. The recent season has got automobile world with a lot of ups and downs, infact a lot of ups and a meagre downs. Lets ignite ourselves with the woebegone ones first, the fuel prices has gone northwards(which includes diesel, means a hefty rise in the transport prices and commodities too), the sticker-price hike of the cars in the range of 1K-10K as a result of increasing commodity prices and losses suffered which includes Maruti-Suzuki,GM, Tata Motors, Hyundai, M&M.etc. Now you have been stricken by the thought citing.." a price hike in the range of 1000 to 10000 bucks shouldn't make a fuss to a man spending in Lkhs to own a car", but the fact is quite different. Now, I wont get into the details of car marketing or human psychology during car purchasing, and even I am unknown too. Recently on one fine morning, while brushing(ofcourse..not my tooth) my eyes over an issue of the Autocar Professional, which mentioned "Altius automotive(a new entrant) to make diesel motorcycle". Now this is the innovation mantra to sustain in such a fierce competition, hybrids are still on the way to make a mark in Domestic market, so its better to cut down the running cost duly by switching onto a different fuel. Altius automotive technologies has quite remarkable answers to all the questions. With the fuel prices going nowhere but up, altius has got an interesting offer in their kitty, but..but but but..the motorcycle would be priced at an eye-popping 1.5lakh. Here we got unanswered leaving tight-lipped..isnt it? Sorry, for I couldn't continue with the topic I had started with, so continuing with th same mentioning the dives in the automobile lane. The sales momentum in this YoY fiscal has slowed down due to the exorbitant hikes in the car prices adding up with is hike in the loan interest rates by the banks. So where does it end up with..?? Let me tell you dips in the automobile market would definitely fetch some good news for the new car buyers with the new promotional schemes and discounts offered on some of the car models. Honda has cut down pricesw of its best-selling ever model City by at around 66000 bucks, Honda might have given any plea to match upto the idea of cost-utting, but th fact is COMPETITION, yes..competition, as of read from somewhere, City has been the best seller for Honda and even in its segment too for 13(yes thirteen...!!) long years fetching bags of bucks to Honda, but this year has been the worst one, with the new entrants making way into the segment such as VW Vento, MS SX4 Diesel, New Hyundai Verna, New Ford Fiesta and these all cars have a lot to offer to the customers, so rather than going for a facelift(which would primarily have been purely cosmetic and quite an expensive idea keeping in mind that there has been a recent faclift), the huge margin of cost cutting would do the job finely. The idea of cost-cutting has faired well in the market as in the likes of Etios,Liva, Nano and some traces in Figo too. This has allowed manufacturers to trim down the leg prices of the car by an appraisable amount, making them to sustain in the fierce slug-fest. This time, it has been quite a lengthy article, so jumping onto the end abruptly leaving my hands to rest and move off the laptop keyboard which has been running for the last one and half hour turning into a hot fry pan. It took quite a long time for me to put up with a new article on my blog just because of some unprecedented lethargic charactrestics.

All new Hyundai Verna on OVERDRIVE

" Tata Nano gives thousands of Indians a scope to dare and dream of buying a new car, and ofcourse a new reality...!! "

"With the accelerated growth of ineffective public transportation system in India,most citizen do bank on unsafe modes of private transport...!!"

"The Nano means freedom and empowerment for people caught between inadequate public transport and expensive private transportation..."

Mammoth Trap....

One of the India’s most humble forms of public transport is also one of India’s most dangerous, unreliable, uncomfortable, inefficient and very often the easiest to break traffic laws with. It’s prominently visible in every towns, cities and even in rural areas of India. This mode of transport we very often ridicule and abuse but it is one that we can never do without. If ever incidentally there gets a strike called by that one association, millions celebrate with a smile of relief on their faces that the roads will be left by with sufficient spaces to drive on. Millions more complain that they will never ever be able to get anywhere on time, if they can ever get there at all. I refer to the ubiquitous autorickshaws or as it is simply called auto or rickshaw.

The concept of the rickshaws probably made its debut in China, where in a bygone era people would cart others in a hand drawn carriage. The concept must have traveled across to India thanks to Chinese traders, most probably to Bengal, where the tradition is so deeply rooted you still see hand-drawn carriages even today. It wouldn’t stop me from saying auto’s have gone through so many facelifts that even Volkswagen Beetle haven’t gone through. Even the most contemporary design today still cannot fit more than three. That brings me to engross on the comfort features. Today’s rickshaws is still open to the elements on most sides. “Who needs a convertible in India..??”

The rickshaws offers the same wind in your hair.And when it rains, it pours. Despite the thin plastic flaps, there is no way to fasten them. So heavy rains ensure even the middle occupant would get drenched. The rain brings another complexity, that of visibility. Now some well built, industry made rickshaws do possess a motorised wipers. Most others will utilise a hand operated and still others who think they can save a few bucks more will carry a cloth, just reach out and wipe whenever the need arises. Now dragging attention towards safety and structural norms, you see the body of the rickshaw is a frame made of the metal tubes, layered over with a thin and poor quality plastic and with a windshield madeof glass. I have never heard of any rickshaw crash norms, so just how effectively it sustains a crash is just anybody's guess. God knows... . No grab rails and wide open entry point ensures the ease of falling out during a sharp cornering. But that really should not matter since these rickshaws are usually packed more than they should have been, which means they can't really go too fast.Even if you fall off, it would possibly hurt you out at these slow speeds unless a car behind runs you over.With an engine that displaces not more than 0.2 L and puts out not more than 8-9bhps you cant really go too fast. At full throttle, it gets up to the loudest thing on the road,loud enough to distract you even if you have stocked yourself in a Q7.

Whatever so may it be. It's been the most economical, easy to access, effective means of transport since years. The concept of auto-rickshaws has been serving Indian citizen since around 3 decades.

Worth of Hype..??

I feel ....we don’t give TATA motors enough credit for being a pioneer. Isn't it...??

The original Indica was the first hatchback to be launched in the late 90’s with space of an Amby within an engravation not much larger than a Maruti’s. But now everybody’s doing similarly sized and frugal hatches facing fierce competition, all we remember the Indica, is for poor quality plastics used and the plethora of badly driven cabs.

The Nano – nobody can deny it’s a revolution but all we hear these days is how it’s not a complete car, how not enough are being made and ofcourse only recently TV channels were flooded with reports of a potential fire problem.

Take the Indigo instead, it pioneered the entry-level sedan segment with a mere formula of “stick-a-boot-on-to-a-hatch” but after an initially a run away success look who’s making hay in the segment – Maruti with the Swift Dzire. But unlike the Indica or the Sumo(so right for their time at launch but so wrong so now) Tata motors is not giving up in this segment without a fight. With the hot off the press launch of Indigo Manza, this is for sure that TATA motors has found the mojo again.

In-stable it has the furious Safari, the boxy and ugly Sumo Grande Mark II, new Xenon. But all of them are prominently known for their poor build quality, creakings and boundless maintainence bills.

Whatever it’s, afterall it’s the TATA motors who built the first fully Indian diesel Hatch -the Indica and Vista following, the 1^st fully Indian Sedan – The Indigo and Manza then, the 1^st Indian MUV – the mighty Sumo, 1^st Indian SUV – massive Safari suffixed with a tagline “Reclaim your Life..!!” was like awe inspiring one. It has atleast convinced me to say like “Hats Off …….”. Now only if TATA motors could percolate some of the lessons learnt from the Manza – particularly on how to strengthen its quality – down to Vista, people might just stop with the call-centre cabbie jokes.