Amitabh Bachchan wore those long big trousers; Abhishek brought it to the tight and fit jeans category; now the old bells are doing the rounds again. The fully covered attire gained popularity among women in the 80’s. A decade later, lesser the better became the mantra. Now, high waist and long frocks seems to be doing great. Take the case of food. People never bothered really about their diet and about getting fit and slim. Eat well, stay happy. Then we started to adopt the nutritional diet philosophy. So that the men can boast of their packs and the ladies can flaunt their curves. Well show-off hasn’t come down but they eat properly these days. They just do more exercise now to compensate. So clearly the cycle has come to the starting point again.
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| Tata Sierra : India's first SUV/MUV. No its not Safari and Sumo |
Unless you happen to be a
historian, the chances of you thinking about a car beyond 1950 are less. So the
first car that set India rolling is the Ambassador. It’s big, comfortable and
can seat five people easily. The first name that comes to mind when we mention
Indian automobile company would be TATA Motors. And guess what. The first car that
they offered: Tata Sierra – a big and bold vehicle. This happened in the early 90’s. Then a
certain Maruti 800 came over and the Indian market has since been the Mecca of
small cars. For almost two decades now, the small and compact ruled the R&D
minds.
Well, all that’s now past tense.
The fact that in Sep-Oct only one small car was launched as against half a
dozen SUV’s/MUV’s stand testimony to this fact. There are a lot more utility
vehicles available now than what one would have predicted two years back. Lot
of experts said that the launches at the Auto Expo were just a hype to show
that the manufacturers have joined the band wagon. Well that certainly ain’t
true now is it? M&M has its share from scorpio, bolero, xylo, quanto, XUV
500 and Tata from Sumo, Safari, Aria. Then the outsiders had their shot too
with Duster, Koleos, Yeti, Innova, Ertiga, Fortuner, and Endeavour. Every
manufacturer in the country seems to be in the hunt to get their share of some
utility pie. They do realise the potential that’s at stake and the profit that
will follow not just because it a little expensive than the smaller cars, but
they also sell in big number. Something that’s really set the industrialists,
even the manufacturers themselves confused.
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| Its all show off; but a very worthy contender |
So what is it that made the
Indian minds ponder on their tried and tested small car purchase ideology? One. It ll make you look powerful and rich
(stop frowning, that is the first reason). Two. It’s a diesel. 90% of all the
SUV’s sold here are diesel and that obviously translates to reduced fuel and maintenance
cost. Three. It can carry an XL sized family between cities easily without you
hiring a Travera or Innova cab. Even Sedans can do that efficiently?? Please
goto Point One. And this does not hint at the end of small car market in India.
It is just that the disparity in petrol and diesel prices has gone up and there
are not too many options in the entry level segment offering a diesel engine.
So until you can afford a Figo/Swift/i20/Fabia, you were left with little
choice if you wanted to avoid petrol. But experts say once the petrol prices
stabilises and diesel prices starts to rise, people will move back to small
petrol vehicles.
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| Big and heavy at an affordable price |
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| Pretty good; but Duster + 10L? hmmm |
I personally feel the future of
big wheels is converging to the 7-11 Lakh range. And the more features per car
per rupee per fuel that a company can offer, the more they are bound to get
back. Tata have a decent contender with
the Safari/Aria. But these do not seem to be covering grounds. They need
something more contemporary and SUV-ish. The ruggedness of Safari with the
upmarket goodies of the Aria. Scale it down to the compact SUV league and it
should do well, coz pricing has not really been a problem for Tata and M&M.
M&M itself has the biggest backyard with the most offerings in here. The
Bolero and scorpio that’s been there for a long time now while Xylo and Quanto
for the MUV lovers. But M&M’s real hero has to be the XUV 500. That to me is
the near perfect mix of how to make your buyers happy. The Renault Duster is another
great deal at offer for consumers. The biggest setback for Renault would be how
on earth they would intend to boost the sales of Koleos when customers can get
pretty much everything they need in a Duster. Honestly I am looking forward to
that one vehicle from Toyota. A Toyota Ginua (Yes, I made up that name). A compact SUV, diesel
engine, and good looks. The low end Toyota cars offered here are just mediocre
in the appeal factor. But when it comes to SUVs, they do have a legacy that
they can boast off (Read Land Cruiser, Fortuner). At around 10L, you get a
brawn friendly body with the reliability of a Toyota. Hope the Japanese sense
the need of the hour.
India is just a part of the
revolution. This change has been happening everywhere. The best-selling Porsche
car in history is the Cayenne SUV. Yes it is sad that one of the greatest sport
car manufacturers have the top spot reserved for an SUV (an ugly one at that).
But the fact remains that if you need Euros to go in smoothly, you need a
vehicle that will sell in numbers. And being cheaper and utilitarian than its
sporty siblings it was easy to see the sales dept’s smile when you tell them the
math and numbers that the Cayenne will bring in. In fact the Cayenne has sort
of set the rules among the big league names entering SUV segment. Following its
super success, fellow iconic brands, Bentley and Maserati have already started
investing big on their own SUV. Hell even Lambo have set foot in this
territory. Yeah, we do know none of these may even bother to challenge the
capabilities of the old school granddaddy of SUVs, but even the Land Rover
would love some competition.
We are now witnessing the biggest transformation in Indian car market. 2012 will be the year not when the world ends, but the year when a new life begins. A new chapter with a lot of offerings is now part of the history book. Let’s wait and see how the story unfolds. Will the big and strong hero survive the test of time or will he perish in the aftermath of all the hype that surrounds him. Only time will tell. Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai have a point to prove. Can these two small car superpowers challenge the strength and might of the SUVs? If you can’t beat them, join them. Maruti Suzuki already seemed to have got the hang of it.
