Good products not well received.

Often the automobile market witnesses some reasonably good to excellent products, but somehow they fail to carve a niche for themselves. Its the same with Indian industry too, which has its own share of complexities. There are various reasons that a good product might prove to be a damp squib for a company. It can be bad marketing, wrong product placement, optimistic pricing or market not mature enough to accept the product owing to the product being ahead of its time. I will hark back to a decade and half, because it was after the turn of the millennium that india started waking up to world class cars. This piece is an ode to those manufacturers of gems and also an insight into why they failed to find their worth.
I will start with a Fiat Gem. How many of us remember the Fiat Palio? The aficionados among us would certainly remember it vividly, but my question is aimed at the average joe. It was the first true hot hatch India saw way back in early 2000s. The 1.6 litre gtx variant was capable of hitting the ton in 11 seconds. Yes, you heard (in this case: read) that right. This feat was unfathomable for its contemporaries then. Even today, 15 years after the legend, barring the Polo GT TSI, none can boast of such a feat. Let alone the contemporaries of the Palio then, Tata Indica, Maruti Zen, Hyundai Santro to name a few. All of them registered sales numbers manifold to what the Palio registered. Ironical to say the least. There was a 1.2 litre variant too for the average joe and mileage seeking one. The palio was not just about straight line performance. It also had the handling to harness all those ponies under the hood. Plus, the build was solid, the interior was quite well made. And did I mention it was droolworthy too. Initially it did quite well for itself, but the party was very shortlived. So what went wrong? Well, Its gas guzzling abilities became a byword. But this was more of a virtual perception and only partly true. The engines were powerful and vehicle was heavier than competition too (therefore bound to be relatively inefficient).  But, what not many of us know - the Palio sold in Brazil had smaller wheels. Fiat decided to give bigger wheels for India to increase the ground clearance for India's pothole ridden roads and skyscrapers which we refer to as speedbreakers, but overlooked calibration of the odometer according to the bigger wheels. This led on to the odometer registering less kilometres than what the car actually did. Hence, the perception was heaved down that the car runs less to every litre of gasoline. However, Fiat quietly rectified this faux pas in its next update which was christened Palio NV. Alas, it was too late by then.
To be continued.....  More such gems' waiting to find a mention. Hang on.....

Compact Sedan.A blot on Indian Automotive Scene.

Honourable erstwhile finance minister of our country, Mr. P Chidambaram wrote the definition of a small car. Length not more than 4 metres. Petrol engine not more than 1200 cc and diesel engine not more 1500 cc. This definition of small car was the father of the so called and exclusive to India "Compact Sedan". My dear readers, might be wondering who the mother is, eh? The mother is - 'Our countrymen's fixation with the sedan body style'. Indians love the three box style. I don't know why this body style is directly equated to status or where this perception came from!
Well, moving on - Tata became the first 'midwife' and helped in giving birth to the first unwanted child, the Indigo CS. Urgh! And then there was no looking back for more midwives like Maruti(Swift Dzire), Hyundai(Xcent), Mahindra(Verito Vibe), Honda(Amaze) and now Ford is latest one to join the bandwagon with its Figo Aspire and Volkswagen is also in line with its own derivation of the polo in Compact Sedan form. Icing on this not so tasty cake is most of the above feature in the top ten selling cars in our country.
Personally I hate this whole concept of so called CS (read: compact sedan). Seems like an unwanted child of Chidambaram's definition and our fixation with sedans. I am very tempted to use the popular and apt word, b**t**d for this thing, but google and my values stop me from using it in its full glory. The concept of CS is an insult to my senses and my passion for cars. I can imagine this world without underwears but not without cars. But if, CS were the only cars left in this world, I would leave my passion rather than embracing them. Come on guys, if the boot is so important go for the honda jazz, i20, polo etc. They have similar sized boots. What I mean to say is either go for a hatchback or go for a full fledged sedan. Where have all the purists gone? And where is the status in the three box style? How can one buy Dzire or Amaze over a Polo? What about the poor sods who own the Volkswagen scirrocco, Mercedes A class, BMW 1 series, Audi A3 hatchback, Renault Megane etc etc.... The list is long. Guys, go back in time and recall the BMWs, Audis and Benzs of 70s, 80s and 90s, Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancer. Those were sedans to behold and own to name a few.
Ford is one of my favourite companies in India for their focus on driving pleasure and their fine tuning of the suspension. When I first heard about their aspiration to join the CS bandwagon with the Aspire, I was really crestfallen. But still I was ready to turn a blind eye to the styling and looked forward to the Aspire because it was from Ford. I love the way the Ikon, Fiesta, Figo, New Fiesta handled. Since the Aspire was based on the new Fiesta's platform my expectations had snowballed. But ford messed up the suspension and handling this time. The verve and connected feel of Fords is gone in the Aspire. Thanks to Ford's messing up with the suspension i won't have to own a CS. Ford not a good midwife, eh!

Diary of a Mustang Lover

The Salt Plains of Utah, popularly known as The Bonneville Salt Plains. A bright red Ford Mustang with two white racing stripes, standing in the middle of God’s white masterpiece on earth. This combo would leave any motorhead salivating akin to a bulldog seeing the choicest hind legs of Mary’s little lamb. And I was there beholding the sight in person and walking towards the Mustang to drift it on the plains as if there was no tomorrow. The torque, the understeer and the plethora of horsepower under the hood of the Mustang is any drifter’s dream, especially at a play ground like Bonneville. Suddenly some moron started honking incessantly. I turned around to find no one behind me. It was my morning alarm. My perfect dream was shattered.                  

There is something about American Muscle Cars that evoke a myriad of emotions within car lovers that no other cult car evokes. The Japanese have their Nissan Skyline or the 350Z or 370Z, Subaru Imprezas or Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evo series and of course how can we forget the Mazdas. The Europeans have their, BMW M series, Audi R’s, The legendary Porsches GT’s, Lamborghini Countach and Diablo SV, Ferrari Maranello & Spider, Maseratis, Volkswagen Beetle. Phew! (Pardon me, my Japanese and European brothers if I am forgetting some of you).                

Imagine an auditorium full of car enthusiasts, say 5000 of them. And a folk standing at the podium calls out the name “Ford Mustang or Shelby Mustang”. May I dare to place a bet on the fact that 95% of the audience is bound to have an instant mini orgasm or call it “Cargasm” and the rest 5% will lie about it. We are talking about one of world’s largest mass orgasms.                

America has quite a few cult muscle cars to boast of and many like Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Charger, Buick Wildcat, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda or the ”Sir Pioneer”  Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Ford’s Mustang has had and will always have a following of its own, since its inception in 1964. The authority of this car as the king of American muscle was reinforced when a certain Texan racer, Mr. Shelby tweaked it with his recipe and thus was born the Shelby Mustang in 1967.                 

I agree these Mustangs were awful at braking then, were a handful when it came to handling, had terrible understeer and what not. The criticisms of the agnostics of the Mustang have stood the test of time. But, dude, give me a 1967 Shelby Mustang any day over a Lambo, Porsche or Ferrari for that matter.                 

Why can’t we have a ready-for-road prototype of this piece de resistance in our country? Is it so impossible? I agree the Mustang in its current form is not a good business prospect in our country. But, my fellow Mustang lovers picture this – take the current Fiesta’s chassis (we already know it’s an able one by seeing the Fiesta, Ecosport and the upcoming Figo Aspire). Elongate and widen the chassis to suit the American Muscle rank. Latch on the Mustang’s body on the platform. Under the hood put a 1500 cc Ecoboost engine for petrolheads and an 1800 cc turbocharged diesel engine for the dieselheads among us. Price it in the 10 to 15 lakh range. What say, folks? Don’t we see the cash registers ringing at Ford? Won’t it be a dream come true for Mustang fans like us on a tight budget? Mr. Nigel Harris, are you listening?                

Until then guys, find an HM Contessa in the best possible condition, under the hood put Hyundai’s diesel engine from the Verna or Elantra (it’s the same one), a good suspension system from Koni. Top it off with a loud exhaust. That’s the closest and best, we poor Mustangers can get to our ultimate stupor, if you may call it so.