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Big is beautiful

Delshad Irani 18 Nov 2009

Buying a car? Get Best Deal

Think small? Perhaps not. Big is beautiful as Indian car buyers look the SUV way

Smaller cars are convenient and comfortable but he still wishes to own a long, a big car which can boost his ego... a hatch does not satisfy his ego. He wants to constantly move up in life..." These are the last few lines of a recent study by global market research company, Synovate. This consumer is not content riding a sedan. He needs a bigger beast, a beefy SUV.

A minute's stop at a red light in the country's major cities, and you will find yourself looking up at the driver in the car next to you - that is of course if you aren't in an SUV yourself. Auto-experts will tell you the term Sports Utility Vehicle has been, and is still abused, to mean everything from a four-wheel drive to a crossover - that's designed like a car but has features borrowed from the traditional SUV. As a matter of convenience for this story we shall call them SUVs - that's the word on the street.

Big-2

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A car with its spiritual roots in the Jeep and marries the family orientation of a station wagon with butch looks and rebellious independence of offroaders and pickups. But indeed the SUV is no truck. Lumberjack sat not in the front seat; instead it's the soccer-mom with carpools and parent-teacher meetings to attend who took the steering of an SUV. It's the car that takes the entire family, including Mojo the cat and Sumo the dog, to places outside the city for weekend getaways.

In fact it's also the car that takes you to the neighborhood multiplex, or for a night out, hopping or rather, cruising from one pub to another. Just to highlight the nature of the beast today, take the latest blitzkrieg of Volkswagen ads for its premium SUV to hit roads by the end of this year. Next to a picture of the car scaling snow clad peaks are these lines, 'The Touareg can take you across countries in a weekend. Or just to your neighborhood cinema, if you so wish.' SUPER SIZE ME


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User's Comments
  • Rehan (23 November 2009 23:51)
    The real fact about these bullish suvs (except made n india), most of them are running in gasoline. While our fuel prices are skyrocketing, these vehicles are really a tough choice for even our upper middle class. Fact : India's 40la plus suv's are treating like sub 10la scorpios in oil rich arab countries. | Reply
  • Abraham  (23 November 2009 11:03)
    Hey, who is this dude? Commenting about the cars in India. Dude, I think you tried out these cars way back. You are waaaaaaaaaay behind. Talking about the Scorpio - the new 2009 model, pls do test drive the car, before you pass out your 'Sorry' comments on public websites. Guess what, an SUV is an SUV, don't expect the cute looks of a sedan to fall on it. It's meant to look strong and muscular. Pal, when you come to India, Try out these cars, before you open up your wide mouth with 'ugly' comments about cars. | Reply
  • A S Mathew (22 November 2009 18:17)
    The rich in India are getting richer,and the poor are getting more poor. In the U.S., the craze for big vehicles like Hummer is finished,and now everybody is looking togas economy while buying a car.One day, the trend in India alsowill reverse to small cars. | Reply
  • Andreas Jensen (22 November 2009 16:54)
    On a recent visit to India I sampled the TATA Indica which certainly deserves some respect and refinement (new age taxi). But the so called Indian SUVs Scorpio/Safari and so on.. they are terrible. Ok call them a decent mode of transportation, fair enough. But writing about them alongside the BMW/VW is unacceptable. Sorry for being impolite, but they are simply under-powered and ugly looking junk.Infact,Ford's Endeavour itself is a piece of junk and I would like to see it wither away while the SUV market in India only gets HOTTER. | Reply
 irfan (28 November 2009 19:57) Reply to Andreas Jensen
I agree with u Jensen.Same time price of Land Cruiser, BMW, VW in india is much higher than (over twice) the landed cost. Foreign co are ripping off the local consumers in the name of tax. | Reply
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