Slowdown: The Indian Automobile Consumer Comes of Age
Indians are not buying enough cars. Vehicle sales numbers have been falling for the past many months, generating mass hysteria sweeping the country. We’ve been warned repeatedly about the dire danger our economy is in, given that it apparently survives only thanks to the graces of the automobile industry, which has run crying to the […]
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The Ford Ecosport (P)review – Brilliant, but no SUV
The Ford Ecosport has been without doubt the most awaited car launch in India in the recent times. The radical design and looks of the car, the curiosity generated by revolutionary Ecoboost engine, the promise of a middle-class “urban Mini-SUV” and a tantalizing price tag of Rs.5 Lakh (rumored, but not true) resulted in Bollywood-level […]
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Driving Like Dummies 5 – Story of the Indian Car Buyer Part 2
For many, especially the neo-liberated Indian in small town India, buying a car is a dream come true, the process of acquiring it is a dream process come true and car salesmen are dream merchants. Whatever people might say, I believe that globalization and capitalism have liberated us. It it were not for it, you […]
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Driving Like Dummies 4 – Story of the Indian Car Buyer Part 1
A car is a must today. No doubt about that, especially when there is little effective public transportation in India. But the car ownership funda in our society is totally warped with “emotional” or perceived factors outweighing the logical and rational ones. India does not have a “driving culture” or an “automotive culture” save some […]
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Driving Like Dummies 3 – Story of the Indian Car Industry
When it comes to having changed the lives of millions of Indians post liberalization, the automobile sector must come second only after the Telecom sector. Almost all major automobile manufacturers in the world have their presence in the country today with models and variants ranging from 125,000 to 500 million bucks on offer, but heavily skewed […]
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“This is a Caaaaar!” – The Nissan Sunny, the Mallu and Mr. Manoharan.
“This is a Caaaar!” Golden words never die, they just get cunningly reused in the right places. And the Nissan Sunny ad campaign is the latest example for this. The TV advertisement describes the car as being not just a car, but a Caaaaar. What do you think this tagline is about? The space inside […]
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Driving Like Dummies 2 – A Car is NOT an “Investment”
Compared to those who lived twenty years ago, us Indians of today are a pampered lot. For instance, anyone who wants to buy a car is spoiled for choice today. During those non-liberalized days when I was growing up, you couldn’t buy a car even if you had the money for there were only the […]
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