AUTOMOBILE POLLUTION

I had mentioned a few weeks ago in this blog about congestion and pollution in our roads. I had written that our government should not promote usage of personal vehicles by reducing taxes, but should work to encourage usage of public transport by improving the facilities and also imposing congestion taxes on private vehicles.

A report from Center for Science and Environment, New Delhi hints in similar lines about the problem of pollution and congestion in India. Read more about the report here.

KINETIC BLAZE: A PREMIUM SCOOTER!

Kinetic Motors is venturing into a relatively new area by launching a gearless scooter - Kinetic Blaze. Blaze is a premium scooter and is priced around 50,000 - a price level where you don't see options for scooters.

Blaze runs with a 165cc, 12bhp engine. It is said to be first of the seven vehicles from Italian two wheeler maker Italjet Moto that Kinetic is bringing to India. See Kinetic Blaze's pretty website for more information(Thanks to Akshat for the link)

NEW BIKES FROM SUZUKI

I was having a casual conversation with a friend today who mentioned about a new Suzuki bikes show room opening near his house. Curious, I decided to figure out what they are upto.

Sure enough, Suzuki was launching two new bikes in India, adding to the already crowded market of bikes, dominated by Bajaj and Hero Honda. Suzuki is offering two models to start with - Heat and Zeus, both with engine capacity of 125cc. Exact date of availability of these bikes is not know, but they should be out on the road very soon. See news story here.

Also see the Suzuki website for detailed specifications of Heat and Zeus

A CONVERSATION WITH IIMB STUDENTS

A bunch of students from IIM Bangalore wanted my opinion about Maruti Udyog and the Auto industry for a project they were working on. I had a chat with them for around 15 minutes and answered to a few questions they had. This had happened nearly 3 weeks ago, but I could not post it here since I was travelling then. I don't remember the exact set of questions and answers, but here is an approximate transcript. So some questions/answers might have deviated from the original conversation and this is a best effort to put whatever I remember.

Q: What are the reasons for the success of Swift?
A: Swift was priced right. It found a small gap that existed between all the B segment cars(That is, Zen, Wagon R, Santro) and the next level. It was pitched at the level of Getz but would cost much less. And Maruti always has a loyal set of customer who would rather upgrade to a Maruti. And it is a good product and is good looking, which helped the success of Swift.

Q: The question was about Baleno, Esteem and such dated models
A: Maruti badly needs a replacement in this segment. They have a big bunch of loyal customers who would rather upgrade to a Maruti instead of shifting to some other make. But the existing dated models are a deterrent and Maruti really needs a new car in this segment. A radical change in Baleno(something similar to what they did with Honda City) would really help.

Q: Why does Maruti have a loyal band of customers?
A: Primarily because of they have great service. And their service network is vast which really helps.

There were a few more things that we discussed but this is as much I could recall.

(YET ANOTHER) BUDGET BIKE FROM BAJAJ - PLATINA

Bajaj has launched yet another bike in the entry segment, named Platina. Platina is a 100cc bike and will sell at 34 to 36,000 rupees.

So many budget bikes have come(and gone) in the last couple of years, I am confused. Just to show how confused I am - I am writing this post only with things I already know, without deliberately doing further research on it.

A few of these new bikes might have stayed on to be successful but the models have been changing so often that you won't be able to buy these bikes on feedback from other users anymore. Just a few months and the model won't be sold any longer, and will be replaced by something else with a new name.

Bajaj used to have other entry level models - CT100 and Boxer priced similarly. I think the boxer is no more, but I don't know about the the CT100. It is similar story with Hero Honda. They used to have models by name Dawn, Joy, etc in the entry segment and I have little idea if they still exist or are replaced. Some of you probably haven't even heard these names. Sometimes a similar story unfolds on the more expensive bikes too. I am not sure if Hero Honda's Passion is still sold, but I know that Ambition was in the market for only a few months and was quickly replaced by Achiever(Again, I hope I haven't got the names wrong). With so many bikes flooding the market, I don't even know much about what is happening with LML, Kinetic and TVS!

This name game can confuse anyone. It gets more and more difficult to buy a bike based on recommendation from someone you know. I am not sure what prompts two wheeler makers to adopt such a strategy. I wonder if they are shooting in the dark with many models and letting the ones that make the mark to continue?! After all, I don't think it is cheap to launch a new bike - you would need some changes in the manufacturing facility, and you need to pump money for advertising it. But in any case, two wheelers are anyway selling in big numbers and I guess there is a room for such experimenting. Or may be it is becoming a tough market with many players and you have to be aggressive to keep moving ahead?

MAHINDRA SCORPIO CROSSES 1 LAKH MARK

A few weeks after Hyundai marked one million cars, it is the turn of Scorpio to register a milestone - one lakh vehicles. Scorpio was launched in 2002 and it took nearly four years to cross the one lakh mark.

A few months ago, in November 2005, Mahindra's Bolero had managed to cross the one lakh mark. Scorpio's milestone came only a few months after Mahindras launched an all new Scropio with more than 40 new features. Read the full story. Also see the impressive Mahindra Scorpio website to know more about the SUV.