Disparity between Petrol (Gas) and Diesel prices in India

A litre of petrol in India costs USD1.50 and Diesel USD0.90. This difference is creating lot of buzz these days. Many people are opting for Diesel engine cars to save on running costs. The price of Diesel is controlled by the Government of India because its major consumer is Indian Railways, road transport (read Trucks) and agriculture (farm tractors, water pumps), and it does not want these sectors to pay more because of political reasons. However, Indian government officials want to devise a mechanism to charge more for Diesel fuel from Diesel car owners as they believe this to be an undue advantage to Diesel car owners. Also it is believed that Diesel cars pollute more than their Petrol counterparts. What they fail to understand is that the percentage of Diesel consumption (of total Diesel consumed) by such car owners is very less (around 10%), and Diesel technology is much cleaner (in some cases more cleaner than Petrol engines) than before. If someone is buying an expensive SUV, say a Toyota Fortuner, there is every reason to believe that this is his/her second car to be used on weekends. Infact, this is a favour done by the buyer to the otherwise sluggish industry by paying for an expensive car, and thus sustaining hundreds of jobs!! Moreover there is no petrol version of SUVs in India!

Monopolistic Toyota!!

A friend got his Toyota Fortuner after one year from booking. He paid Rs. 1,000,00 (USD2200) as the booking amount and was promised 4% annual interest on the booking amount till the time he gets the car. At the time of delivery (after one year), the dealership denied this interest amount even though it was promised in writing. The behaviour of the dealership representing Toyota is totally monopolistic. How can Toyota allow this?

Dearth of SUVs!!

While the developed world is avoiding SUVs, Indians are increasingly catching up to the idea of owning one. As the middle class and upper middle class has more buying power, they are warming up to the idea of owning a SUV. The demand is so high that the auto manufacturers are having orders for the next SIX months! Yes, that’s right, the waiting period to own a SUV from world renowned manufacturers like Honda and Toyota range from three (for Honda CRV) to six months (for Toyota Fortuner). Honda CRV is imported as a CBU and is expensive at USD50,000!, whereas Fortuner is assembled in India and priced at USD40,000. There is a huge gap between demand and supply and a good opportunity for other companies to take benefit. Hyundai is planning to launch Santa-Fe for quite some time, but due to some unknown reason they have yet to do so.

A Four Door Porsche!!

A thorough-bread sports car manufacturer coming out with a four door sports saloon is surprising. Car lovers around the world associate the brand with two door coupes and convertibles. While Asia is playing a bigger role in the world economy, world car makers are thinking out of the box. Four door Panamera makes perfect sense for the Indian market where the majority of luxury cars are chauffeur driven. Panamera will have a much wider audience compared to a two door sportser. Look out Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi……

Jaguar Land Rover

Tata launches JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) in India. Yes, these iconic brands are now available to the Indian motorists! Tata of India bought these brands from Ford of US, and recently launched them in the Indian market. Though Indian market is very small for such luxury brands, it holds good potential in the long run. Tata Motors has wide range of vehicles on the Indian roads, from the worlds cheapest car - Nano to large multi-axle commercial vehicles. It is to be seen though whether these luxury brands are sold from new exclusive outlets or through existing outlets for other Tata cars (which should NOT be the case!).

Nano - Greek word for "dwarf," is a small, affordable (at USD 2500), rear-engine, four-passenger car aimed primarily at the Indian market. Tata Motors has developed this car indigenously. Tata has already proved its car designing and manufacturing capabilities with their earlier launch - Indica. The design is cute and inspiring and the launch promises to fulfil dreams of millions of Indian families to own a car. But the question on everybody’s mind is that by fulfilling those dreams, are we not putting more pressure on the infrastructure (read roads) which is already chocked? It takes two hours to cover 50 km in peak hours on the roads of New Delhi. Even if 25% of two-wheeler owners in New Delhi become car owners, it will be a nightmare to drive through Delhi. Probably, Nano should be sold only in rural areas and small towns.

Xylo – a new SUV in the Indian market. A home grown design by an Indian manufacturer - Mahindra. Indian auto design has shown tremendous improvement over the last few years. But it may take some more time before they can match upto their European counterparts. Xylo is surely attractive, but lacks that true design integrity! The headlamps, the grill, and tail lamps may need re-work in the next avatar.

VW came up with a modern design for the Jetta....good news!! May look sleek and sexy to some.....but what happened to that German flair?? The old Jetta (top) looked very German, very inspiring.....with it's own identity!! But designers these days just want to mix and match few successful designs and hope for a hit!!

The new Jetta to me looks more like a Japanese imitation....and far less German!!