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Steed William's blog

Steed William's blog

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Frustration on Indian Roads

The very first time i crashed a car was on my way to airport.I did not realise what my fault was but i did feel i Sorry as i had damaged something.But the fact that i was not allowed to drive even one year after the accident by my family is what really makes me drive better by the day.
I had crashed into the rear fendor of a Bajaj Autorickshaw which overtook me from the wrongside without any indication, And without any clearance space left for me to maneouvre.
I was really shocked that the guy blamed me for not controlling the car.
Since then i have been cursing the fact that one third[or may be even more:O] of vehicles that ply on our roads are these painfully sick three wheelers,MOst of them are not well maintained.and breakdown at any point of time.for example when a vehicle climbs a flyover of an elevated road, It is capable of taking the ideal load that it should be subjected to, But ive many times found these dirty three wheelers slipping off the road due to them being overloaded by their drivers.The place where i stay has often seen a 150 CC three wheeler carrying 10-12 people ,inspite of the fact that it was meant to carry a maximum of three people.And i have to used it though thats the last thing on my mind everyday.
Though these three wheelers have proved to be a boon India in more than one way.It is due to their drivers that they have been abused and have eventually become hazard machines.
In one instance i found a Tata Ace driver trying to poach away customers from a rickshaw driver who was trying to load 12 people in his rick. The rickkie was obviously annoyed to the gut. But the fact that most people chose the rickshaw over was what surprised me.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Platform sharing

Car companies are looking for economies , coz it is very difficult for them to make different cars and provide the backup and support for each car individually throughout its life cycle,Coz if a car fails in the market,It becomes difficult or rather unnecessary to provide backup for its service and parts throughout its life cycle.
I am a bit late about writing this post,but am writing it now because global car makers are getting this technology to india because the market has reached a level where if necessary to survive requires a degree of platform sharing among the cars of a same brand.
The the new swift dezire or the tata indigo for instance, the share more that half the part with their hatchback counterparts,This allows the companies to make parts simultaneously fot both the hatchback and the sedan, greater similar parts results in better manufacturing quality and thus higher quality.
The company which pioneered platform sharing in india was Fiat thought they could never succeed in it because of their sales network.Fiat lunched the siena in indian in the mid nineties,though a gr8 car,siena like palio had a good start in the indian market but eventually failed.
Tata got the indica and now has expanded it into 3 platforms the indigo and the indigo/marina.
European car maker have followed this strategy for more than a decade and have been increasingly profitable.
 
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