The Hindu : Kerala News : On the road to automobile boom

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

On the road to automobile boom

The automobile industry in Thiruvananthapuram is now witnessing an upward trend. With more and more people going in for four- and two-wheeler vehicles, sale of these vehicles are surely on the rise. The times, when people preferred riding a bicycle even to offices, is passé. Now owning a motor vehicle is as much for convenience as for the prestige it brings. With a humungous number of Keralites moving out of the state, the financial inflow into Kerala has played a major role in improving the sales of two- and four-wheelers.

From the old and faithful Ambassador, still a priced possession of the governing establishment, Kerala has seen the entry of many big and small, luxury and utility vehicles. Driving a Premier Padmini was considered hip at one point of time. But the mantle was soon taken over by Maruti 800, which is still preferred by many for its fuel-efficiency and compactness.

With the success of Suzuki through Maruti, other foreign manufacturers started making a beeline into India, trying to get a foothold here. The craze for cars had started catching up in Kerala by then. This led to the success of many global giants like Fiat, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Ford, Daewoo and up-end manufacturers like General Motors, Toyota, Diamler Benz, Skoda, etc.

But the India-born Tata Motors seized the bull by its horns and unleashed a fleet of user and terrain-friendly vehicles, in the form of multi-utility vehicles (MUV) like Sumo, Safari, Spacio, and sedans like Indica and Indigo.

``People have now become very value conscious. Vehicles which are beautiful and have a high resale value are in great demand, says Sivakumar of Kulathunkal Motors. And this may be one of the reasons Indica V2 is very popular now. They have more leg space and ground clearance (distance between the ground and the bottom of the car), and can seat five adults. Indigo is also equally popular and its improvised version, Indigo Marina, which has come into the market recently, has more luggage space and retains all the qualities of the original Indigo.

Not to be left far behind are the MUV Sumo Victa, the modern version of Tata Sumo, and the sports utility vehicle (SUV), Tata Safari.

Hyundai's super luxurious cars like Sonata and Elantra with their awe-inspiring looks, spacious interiors, cutting edge technology, etc blend in seamlessly with the life style of people in big league. With the new offer of 4 year/80,000km warranty and dedicated personal service, these luxurious wheels are poised to conquer the market. Hyundai's Santro Xing , Getz, etc. have been already a run away success in the respective segments.

The opening of the floodgates did not stop with cars alone. The two-wheeler manufacturers like Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, etc., also made a major dent in the earnings of the Enfield motorcycles and they also forced down the shutters of Rajdoot and Ideal Jawa, manufacturers of Yezdi.

Among the modern motorcycles, Bajaj Pulsar leads the pack. It takes up 84 per cent of the market share, which sures points to the popularity the bike enjoys. ``Available in electric and kick start variants, this bike has a powerful engine and boasts of a mileage of 60 km/litre of petrol, making it a real hit, says Shaji Vamadevan of Deedi Automobiles. Accorded the Best Bike of Year by ICICI, Pulsar has a DPSI engine. Bajaj CT 100, which is the largest selling brand in India, Bajaj Discover, Honda Splendor, Honda Passion, Kawasaki Caliber, Yamaha Libero, et al are the other players.

To realise the dreams of the mobile Keralites, the banking institutions have chipped in by releasing loans, at comfortable interest rates, which hooks the prospective customer into going ahead with the plans of owning a vehicle. Many of these institutions give as much as 60 per cent of the total cost of the vehicle as loan for cars. And to the upwardly mobile, it even goes up to 100 per cent. For two-wheelers, the loan amount is 45-50 per cent of the total amount.

Ambika Varma

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