Dear Industry,
As we step into yet another calendar year, on behalf of all the millions of average aspiring Indians wishing to own a vehicle and those who are looking at their first upgrade, I share 6 wishes for the industry to take serious notice of and fulfil. Yes we are the second largest automobile market and the third largest four-wheeler market, but given that we are a 200 million middle class and a total of close to a billion and a half strong, we do have some lovely, dark and deep woods to roll through.
Right to Public Transport
Please make thousands more buses and three wheelers. As of now there are less than 2 buses per 1000 of us, which is both shameful and disappointing. While we have so many “national” schemes on health, food and education, we have none on public transport. Along with the Right to Food and Right to Information, we need a Right to Public Transport.
As per some estimates by social scientists, we need close to 250,000 buses to be sold annually while we currently just about manage 100,000 units. This is to counter the harsh fact that even today, with Viksit Bharat and Atmanirbhar Bharat happening, close to 40 million of us walk on foot to work for lack of adequate and affordable public transport.
And please stop subjecting us to travel in some of the most unsafe vehicles on this earth in the name of e-rickshaws. They are an absolute embarrassment to the image of a global economic powerhouse that we wish to create. Right above vested interests and ensure every mode of public transport is first and foremost safe.
We the Seniors and Disabled…
According to the India Ageing Report 2023, as of 2022, 10.5 per cent of Indians were above 60 years of age. This will go up to 20.8 per cent by 2050 which will be more than 30 crores of us. ICMR’s NFHS-5 survey of 2021 estimates close to 4.5 per cent of the total population comprising of people with disabilities.
That is a huge 64 million of us. The same as the entire population of France or South Africa or the UK.
Yet, how many automakers have solutions tailored to us seniors and disabled? You could count on your one hand with a lot to spare.
While some with a conscience do make offers for the disabled, how many cater to the old and infirm? The SUV body style may not be to everyone’s liking and end up being chosen as a compulsion. There are no seat configurations for the seniors. Even for the disabled, wheelchair friendly basically means having the boot space to store a folded one and not much more. Think and think hard.
RRR is passe…focus on MMM
Multi Modal Mobility.
India needs multi-modal mobility solutions that link mobility types and locations. As a lower middle class and middle class Indian, I need access to a service that links all forms of road transport, rail transport and water transport from one city to another providing both affordable and seamless transportation.
I really look forward to the leading automakers to take up the responsibility of not just providing products but also solutions. I see them collaborating on the same. Two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, buses of all sizes, metro rail, circular rail, local rail, long distance rail, motorboats, ferries… I wish to see all collaborating into creating a truly inclusive mobility network across the country by 2047. For that, the framework has to be created in 2026.
What a waste!
As a common Indian who is always preached about sustainability through reuse, recycling, reducing and repurposing, how about the automakers also learning a few lessons and walking the talk? When will you stop using so much plastic for new vehicle packaging?
All that plastic over seats, on screens, on door sills, on boot sills and many other places reach our homes and eventually reach the mountains of waste.
Why do you use so much of unsustainable material in your events and outdoor advertising? The single-use plastic water bottles and single-use cups that litter after every event is not a pleasant sight for the conscious. We are sure that if one were to calculate the amount of flex and plastic wasted in such efforts, it would be an embarrassing statistic.
Oh Lord will you buy me an affordable vehicle?
There are still very few of us who can afford a personal vehicle. Especially a two-wheeler or an entry level four-wheeler. Before you remind me of my first wish, it is not in conflict with this wish. Ownership does not necessarily mean regular usage. I may still want to own a car for the weekends and evenings while I use public transport for my everyday work commute.
Automakers tell us that increasing pressures of regulations on emissions, safety and new energy tech make their vehicles costlier. Also, they cite per cent comparisons of price increases vis-à-vis salary increases conveniently side-stepping the crucial issue of actual purchasing power. We still do not have an electric bicycle below Rs.15,000. How can we expect higher adoption?
Similarly, the cheapest new four-wheeler is a steep Rs.300,000. Do not let the sales of luxury cars fool you. The pot of gold for you lies at the bottom of the pyramid. If we wish to be a market of sustainable formidable size, build the scale and reduce the cost. That is an earnest wish.
One Nation. One Industry.
There is nothing as powerful as a strategically united and aligned industry into being an eco-system that is not only seen as marketplace but also as a powerhouse in research, design, innovation and disruption. A respected automobile market.
For the sake of us millions of owners and users of mobility, you need to invest and work together on critical domain and deep tech and design that creates solutions most relevant for our usage and need patterns.
Automakers and component makers need to collaborate, above their individual targets and agendas, on larger aspects of energy, resources and software to create IP that the world will want in the years to come. The first step towards the same should be made in the new year. You can do it.
As Tagore had said, “Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action…”, dear industry, please do help make our 6 wishes come true in 2026.
(The author of the article is Avik Chattopadhyay, Founder of INDEA and Chairperson of the XLRI Centre of Automobile Design & Management. Views are personal.)
