Like most markets of which I am expected to know something about, I have yet to set foot in India so jump at the chance to see anything on the teev that broadly covers ‘motoring’ in such places. Last night’s History Channel first episode (the US has already seen the full series) of Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads – in HD – was enough to put me off, at least going anywhere near the country’s roads in anything less than a tank.
To summarise, two North American men and a woman, completely at home in a giant Kenworth hauling up to 40 tonnes up ice-covered ‘roads’ in the far north of Alaska and/or Canada, have been transported to Delhi from where they are allocated, ye gods (and they get involved, too), wooden framed cabbed Tata with, as one put it, ‘less horsepower than my snowmobile’ to haul goods like bags of cement up some of the Himalayan roads that were once part of the Silk Route. Sheer drops, roads too narrow for two trucks to pass, dodgy bridges and suicidal bus drivers and private motorists – you get the idea. No wonder there’s one road casualty every 4.5 seconds and 18,000 deaths a year, and that one burly Canadian bowed out before he left the outskirts of Delhi having ripped a rear door off a Toyota Innova and the front bumper off a Tata Indica (neither his fault) just trying to leave the crowded metropolis, and that with the help of the ‘spotter’ (co-driver).
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As the continent motorises, or upgrades its motorisation, some cracks are beginning to show. Tata’s people car has had some self-combustion and financing issues, the latter which the automaker moved to fix this week, and Ford is becoming concerned at local partsmakers’ abilities to supply what it needs. This is an issue which has come up before but I think it’s the first time a multinational has been quite so vocal.
Lunching with Lotus brought our lucky suited and booted editor a chance to hear the sportscar maker’s latest ambitions and Ford claimed a world first for its Wayne assembly plant. As did Toyota for Vitz glazing, adding to last week’s fuel economy claim, trumped this week by affiliate Daihatsu.
Reportage Inc has been spending the week trying to unravel the mystery of potential bidders for GM’s Opel plant in Antwerp which built its last Astra this week; Simon wraps things here and there’s more here, there, and here.
As the week closes, parts of the UK are again wrapped in snow with the doomsayers claiming some internet-ordered Xmas presents won’t make it in time. Snow has also hit automaking in North America but it looks like things are largely back to normal today. Just in time for the weekend – so have a good one.
Graeme Roberts
Deputy/News Editor
just-auto.com
