Automotive Industry

There has been a lot of talk about the future of the auto industry. Some of things that have been discussed are cars that run 100% on electricity, cars that have motion sensors to help parking and incoming dangers, and even cars that run on vegetable byproducts. One of the latest breakthroughs that have received attention lately is the technology to create cars that can drive themselves.

Recently Google (known for their world famous search engine and applications) has experimented with cars that drive themselves. It uses radar, video cameras, and even laser in addition with the Google map information to accurately get to the destination. Although the idea of an artificial intelligence operating by itself seems a little unreal, the results have been surprising.

Google’s cars have driven over 100,000 miles across all types of environments from bridges, highways, and local areas. According to the company, there was only one accident where a driver rear ended the car on a red light. Of course, the technology is still in testing and will need to be tested to see if it is safe to operate. This is exciting news for many people as it can mean things.

Imagine going to work stress-free while you take a nap, work on your project, or even watch TV. Imagine not being tired while driving during a long trip because you’ve been driving for hours. How about being able to drive around at late night after having several drinks? You can say it’s pretty much like having your own personal chauffeur get you to your destination. Read the rest of this entry »

India has got a good base for raw material for the auto sector starting from low cost cars to high end cars. One of the 100 suppliers of the Tata Nano, NK would be interested in supplying their products even for their low-priced cars like Nano. It is long way to go for Indian vendors with so many foreign car makers pouring in India the vendors not only have to satisfy their demands but should also maintain their quality. The opportunities are plenty; all they have to do is make right use of it. One of the auto players Mahindra & Mahindra, after launching their SUV Scorpio started the full-service vendors.

However, Indian vendors still have long way to go. Says Pawan Goenka, president, automobile sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, “The way in which the foreign players are entering India, the vendors here would be required to not only maintain their quality standards but also increase the volumes to cater to such players. As I see it now, though there are not enough players in India, there is lot of opportunities.” M&M started the full-service vendors after they launched their SUV, Scorpio, and it was only then that they developed the vendor base.

With an investment of over Rs 26,000 crore would be pumped in to India by 2010 will help India to have quality vendors. Though there are many foreign players (vendors), who want to tap this opportunity, but the Indian vendors still have an upper hand. Read the rest of this entry »

Going back to the 1920’s, the automakers began to break away from Henry Ford’s philosophy of sticking with the same model, in the same color, at the same price. Instead, manufactures like General Motors changed models every year, to give the impression that there was something unique that the American Consumer needed to buy. But changing models constantly required large investments of capital for design and retooling.

Detroit was planting the seeds of its own destruction if it didn’t keep up with trends amongst the buying public.

A high demand for cheap attractive models would lead to one of the biggest muckraker stories in the mid 60’s.

In 1965 Ralph Nader published “Unsafe at Any Speed: The designed-In-Dangers of the American Automobile.” He exposed how General Motors and the American auto industry were placing consumers’ lives at risk by failing to design safe cars. Nader especially singled out the General motors’ Corvair which he labeled a death trap.

By the late 1950’s, the Big Three automakers were losing out to a public that was demanding smaller, less expensive cars, and was also increasingly attracted to imports, especially the Volkswagen Beetle. Imports, in fact accounted for 10 percent of all sales in the , exceeding 600,000 a year in 1958. So in 1959 it came as no surprise when the Big Three introduced three smaller models to compete against the imports: the Ford Falcon, Chevrolet Corvaire, and the Plymouth Valiant. These cars, which were cheap to make, and appealing to the consumer would turn out to be unsafe and poorly constructed. Read the rest of this entry »