Performance cars and massive SUVs have traditionally moulded desire in the 4-wheeler market. One is unambiguously fast; the other is unambiguously powerful. One needs right of way; the other wants you out of the way. What should we buy when there aren't many great roads and there are too many of us on existing roads?
NEED FOR SPEED
Economic gloom is like hypothermia. The body focuses blood circulation away from peripheries and onto vitals. The tremendous splicing of products within the automobile industry had always seemed excess, that would get streamlined to fewer products or attributes when the environment changed. You can't perennially dodge relevance. Not long ago, when industry economics were genuinely challenged, the age of vehicle platforms became firm reality. Today, most vehicles belong to one platform family or another, implying commonality across vehicles. Thanks to economic gloom, the case for servicing the rich is also clearer — it is a more price-inelastic segment, not to be confused with fantastic automotive innovation.
For the more elastic category, product differences persist, although such distinctions are hostage to more economic shocks, now or later. Absolute relevance for the large personal transport market could be converged to a product that is compact, safe, consumes less fuel, parks well, does hard work and runs despite bad roads; in other words, an ultimate crossover. Problem is that in industry terms, it is return to communism of limited products. It kills fun. What would companies do if their product held much relevance, yet personally meant that much less? Luckily, not everyone's idea of transport is transportation. Else, we would cycle — right?
When our first compact SUV, the Gypsy, faded, I remember asking Maruti, Tata and Mahindra what the future of the small SUV would be. There was similarity in replies then. The UV market catered primarily to two categories — the SUV was bought by the image conscious; while the less-glamorous UV found application as taxi or people-carrier. Either way, vehicle size had to be large. If not, a seminal reason to think UV was apparently lost. Since then, economic hypothermia has hit us with rising frequency. As the buzz around India's Auto Expo grows and compact SUVs and crossovers are now more easily discussed, I can't help thinking that some more tightening of recession's screws — or should I say the screws of a paradigm shift because such is the impact of competitive survival on an earth with seven billion humans — and we would be staring at an automotive line-up that is courageously different from what it used to be. It may trade mere indulgence, for the absolutely relevant sweet spot of the market.
DELAY IN RESPONSE
In engines, such convergence is happening consciously. Attributes for the future are clear. What rides on top is yet ambiguous. We make tough small cars. We have a new small SUV and an old one awaiting a new avatar. Will we articulate the meeting point of such patterns as a relevant solution? Or will we ask the market to point direction? Conscious living and consumerism are two sides of the same coin. Each has its time. There is considerable lag between human thought and market response, because the market is clogged by investments and returns promised therein. This fault may seem greedy corporate and unimaginative government; it is actually household and very us. Vanity and household insecurity delay the right transport solutions. The most relevant vehicle plays hide and seek right before us. Without that game, there is neither us nor automobile industry.
(The author is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)