The recent imbroglio at the Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant may have serious ramifications for the future of Gurgaon and the National Capital Region

Veeresh Malik

The waiting list for procuring the Maruti D’Zire is now said to be about nine months or so; it may well be true, due to the situation at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant. It says something about the innate trust and loyalty of customers willing to wait that long, or longer, despite other competing cars, some with the same engine, being available off the shelf.

It will be sad to see Maruti Suzuki fade away from Gurgaon’s skyline, but it appears inevitable, as alternate manufacturing plants will have to relocate elsewhere. The effect on the real estate and other markets in the National Capital Region (NCR) area, as well as on its people and the region at large will be tremendous. The corporates will reap the benefit of real estate appreciation while the industry goes from strength to strength. At times, one cannot help but compare the situation with what happened to Hindustan Motors at Uttarpara (West Bengal) and Premier Automobiles Limited at Kurla (Mumbai).

From what I gather, there is no dearth of people willing to relocate from Maruti Suzuki and other ancillary factories out of NCR to Gujarat or Tamil Nadu. The reasons are many—cost of living and quality of education available, for example. But more than anything else, a deep-rooted reason which is simply not coming out—the threats of violence to families of senior employees. That is the biggest motivator—the families want out. No amount of panchayats, who prostrate themselves, or enquiries sent to the state government will sort it out. One suggestion doing the rounds in the corridors of power in Delhi is that if the Japanese are unable, or unwilling, to run Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), then it might just as well be a fit case for nationalisation. Revert to the Maruti Udyog (MUL) structure, in a manner of speaking, since there is enough reason to do so. This is a sentiment shared by a number of people who have worked at MUL, or continue to work at MSIL, and have seen the way the present Japanese management has messed things up. MUL/MSIL was supposed to be a path-breaker in many ways, and not just another subsidiary of a Japanese company looking for cheap coolie labour, so that huge profits could be repatriated. However, given the current nature of policy-making, it seems impossible that Maruti can be brought back under government ownership.

Car Stereo System: Switch off the music, please?

There are two versions going around about the issue of brakes which are not working well on the diesel version of the new Maruti Swift. The first version, which appears to have been propagated by an automobile magazine with close linkages to competition, talks about the brake pedal becoming ‘hard’ after multiple ‘pumps’, especially at low engine speeds, thus leading to minor bumps and thumps. The second version, a more rational one, is that brake pedals will become ‘hard’ after multiple ‘pumping’ but that does not reduce its effectiveness.

‘Pumping’ brakes instead of stamping hard on them is one of the better driving habits you should develop, especially for planned stoppages where you are simultaneously down-shifting gears; more so if you are coming down an incline, like a flyover, onto a slippery patch or a traffic junction. Whichever way, do take the time to practise this with a clear road ahead as you’ll never know when it will come in useful.

As for the specific braking issue in the new Maruti Swift, it is very difficult to accept the position taken by the said motoring magazine and other magazines that this is because of an engine and braking system mismatch. However, a little bird did tell me that the issue is partly because of the car being overloaded with extremely heavy power-consuming electrical and electronics devices which, in turn, impact the micro-processors therein. Interesting! Consider a powerful stereo, with sub-woofer, sucking the juice away from the other requirements, especially for safety aspects. There could be some truth in this but it needs more research. In the interim, the simple fact remains—if you must drive hard—please keep the stereo and other power-consuming accessories switched off.

Car Safety: Carry a fire extinguisher

Talking about power-consuming accessories, a few nights ago, there was a huge SUV-type taxi right behind me, with extra powerful headlamps and additional spot lamps—so powerful that I could feel its heat effect reflect from my rear-view mirror on my face. I thought I smelt smoke too. It turned out to be true; as the SUV taxi drove past, I realised that there was smoke emanating from its bonnet and I could see flames through its front grille. I waved to the driver; initially, he got aggressive. However, when I told him that his engine bay appeared to be on fire, he reacted quickly, evacuated the passengers from the SUV, shut down the engine (which, incidentally, refused to shut down to begin with, despite taking the key out) and then used the fire-extinguisher.

Lesson learnt—carry a fire extinguisher. While it is not compulsory to have one in private vehicles, it is certainly a good idea, especially if you have a whole lot of additional accessories. It was also heartening to see other taxis stop by and voluntarily use their fire-extinguishers to help put out the fire and offer assistance. One taxi-driver did something very dangerous—he actually reached into the bonnet and yanked out a burning battery cable from the red hot battery.

Investment: Cars vs Real Estate

A very interesting factoid from the head of one of the German luxury car manufacturers in India: the percentile of Indians who appear to be disposing off appreciating assets, like real estate, to buy depreciating assets like luxury cars is the highest in the world.

Obviously, there are no hard and fast figures, but in other parts of the world, a luxury car is often a symbol of having arrived by dint of brains or brawn. Here, it appears to be a symbol of having arrived by dint of stupidity. Still, as long as cars and SUVs are being sold, does it matter?

BMW: Downgraded version?

The motoring event of the fortnight was the association between Rajya Sabha member, Sachin Tendulkar, and the German automobile manufacturer, BMW, for the launch of the ‘new’ BMW 3-series, which is taking place a year after its European launch. This, in turn, shows where the Indian customer features in the larger scheme of things. Is the new 3-series from BMW in India the same as the new 3-series they sell in Europe? We will have to wait to find out, because BMW has not responded to our query on the subject. But then, nowhere on their India website do they claim that the cars they manufacture and sell in India are the same as what they sell in Europe. 

To be fair, this is not the case only with them. A side-effect of the price wars as well as superior quality at lower prices from other manufacturers has meant that the luxury car sellers, mostly from Germany, have been playing around with the quality of the cars they sell in India. 

Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love—writing. He is also involved actively in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves.