Two worlds, interesting parallels
automobile manufacturing company in India gave me good exposure to
various aspects of the business. So when I saw an article entitled
"born to be fuel-efficient" in the Personal Journal section of the
Wall Street Journal (May 21) it caught my fancy. I began to read with
great interest the rise of scooter use in the United States.
You know, when I came to the U.S. from India in the early 90s I used
to wonder why people didn't care for fuel efficiency. Well, gasoline
prices were below a $1 a gallon. Nobody cared about the cost of
jumping in the car and driving 50 miles. At the same time, in India
for all scooter and motorcycle manufacturers "fuel efficiency" was
front and center in their advertising campaigns. One motorcycle
campaign I remember was launched by Hero Honda, it said their bike was
so fuel efficient that customers could fill it (fuel tank), shut it,
and forget it. I believe Indians were paying close to $4 per gallon
back then. The rise of gasoline prices presents a similar dynamic in
the U.S. marketplace. American customers are paying attention to fuel
economy. Scooter use is expected to go up. Scooters cost less, they
are cheaper to insure, and way more fuel efficient than sedans (almost
two and half times better). In major cities parking costs may be
avoided as well. Go to NY Scooter Club for information.
Although, I have to say I would be concerned about safety driving on
American roads. The trend in reversing in India. More people will
start buying cheap cars a la Tata Nano instead of scooters or
motorcycles. . They don't have great roads for cars, but that is
changing. In my opinion, safety is an issue.
There is an opportunity for America and India have a lot to learn from
each other.