Thursday, February 7, 2013

BURNING CARS: THE TRUTH

As car manufacturers double up efforts to ensure cars don’t catch fire, it is important for customers also to understand how they might be ‘the’ problem in such incidents. by Pawan Chabra

Many similar Ajays and Pramods in the Indian market have literally put their lives at stake and eventually ended up spending lakhs just for saving a few thousands. According to data provided by Indraprastha Gas Ltd., there are around 170 certified CNG kit suppliers in Delhi alone, but consumers still visit local suppliers and get the uncertified kits fitted. Further, the technology is still crude. Cases of leakages in the CNG pipe or problems in the valve of a vehicle are a daily affair at several CNG stations. “The technology has been just lifted from western countries. It needs some refinement so that it can adapt the Indian climate,” says Ramesh Kumar Gautam, an employee at one of the CNG stations in Delhi.

The story is no different with the LPG-kit fitted car owners. In fact, some car owners use gas cylinders that are meant for household use. “We refrain from selling our alternative fuel empowered cars in regions where the alternative fuel is not available as it encourages unsafe practices,” reasons Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive, Sales & Marketing, Maruti Suzuki. He adds that though Maruti is working on developing CNG and LPG variants of its models, it will only happen once the network for these fuels fully develops in India.

Undoubtedly, car manufacturers are doing their bit to control such incidents, but then no one has a control on unsafe practices undertaken by individual consumers. For instance, in western countries, the after-sales market is equally divided between authorised service stations and multi-brand car workshops. But in India, customers prefer to go to the neighbourhood garages rather than visiting an authorised service centre to get their car serviced. Moreover the concept of multi-brand car service shops has still not picked up. “The trend and magnitude of neighbourhood garage shops is almost exclusive to India. Having said that, the trend is changing and consumers prefer authorised showrooms over the neighbourhood garage shops,” Jagdish Khattar, former Maruti head honcho and current MD, Carnation Auto tells B&E.

All this clearly indicates that just as car manufacturers need to be put under the scanner for service defects, there is a need to reinforce safety measures and the government should persuade consumers to follow the same either by incentives or by increasing the cost of non-compliance.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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