To people of tender age, Car in a movie might mean Mater of Cars, or Bumblebee of Transformers, and their sequels. But to people of certain age, Car in a movie meant only one fictional character – Herbie the Love Bug, a Volkswagen Beetle. Volkswagen, literally means People’s Car. And, in India we do have a ‘People’s Car’ – the Maruti.
The similarities between the Volkswagen and the Maruti are striking. Both were originally conceived as an affordable car for the people – hence the People’s Car tag. Both went almost dysfunct – neither the then British Rootes (later sold to Chrysler) nor Ford wanted Volkswagen when it was offered to them on the dime. Similary Maruti – conceived and started in 1971 by Sanjay Gandhi, brother of late PM Rajiv Gandhi & both sons of another PM Indira Gandhi – went into actual liquidation in 1977.
It was later revived as Maruti Udyog and the Japanese Suzuki entered into a Joint Venture in 1982. After their revival both went on to dominate their core markets – VW in Europe, and Maruti in India. The two companies had a similar corporate transformation too – from partially state owned, they ‘transformed’ into a close-knit-family-or-‘conected’-families owned corporates. In fact, VW owned a ~20% non-controlling stake in Suzuki Motors Japan between 2009 – 2015, and had to give it back just before the 2015 VW emissions scandal..
Enough of the boring history, and to get back to point. Almost a month has passed since Madras, now Chennai, revived itself like Volkswagen and Maruti Udyog. But during the Chennai Floods, I caught sight of a Maruti - version Zen, which was a improved verision of the original people’s car Maruti 800, with a Jelly Bean body and an upgraded engine – it was sold as Suzuki Alto in Europe.
The sight of the Maruti Suzuki Zen, just after the Chennai Flood, brought back memories of Herbie, the Love Bug. It was tied up almost as if it desired it, with the front right tire to a gate, and the left rear tire to a nearby tree. To top it (pun unintended), someone had placed an adrift plastic dustbin on it.
I could almost see the car winking at me, while so many others had been washed away in floods. To top it, I just enquired yesterday, and learnt that the car was running find with just an oil change, brake linings, and bit of others – though the interiors must smell awful.
Here is the snapshot of the Indian version of Herbie, the Love Bug, just after the Chennai Floods. Note the ropes securing the people’s car, and the blue dustbin hat on top.
The similarities between the Volkswagen and the Maruti are striking. Both were originally conceived as an affordable car for the people – hence the People’s Car tag. Both went almost dysfunct – neither the then British Rootes (later sold to Chrysler) nor Ford wanted Volkswagen when it was offered to them on the dime. Similary Maruti – conceived and started in 1971 by Sanjay Gandhi, brother of late PM Rajiv Gandhi & both sons of another PM Indira Gandhi – went into actual liquidation in 1977.
It was later revived as Maruti Udyog and the Japanese Suzuki entered into a Joint Venture in 1982. After their revival both went on to dominate their core markets – VW in Europe, and Maruti in India. The two companies had a similar corporate transformation too – from partially state owned, they ‘transformed’ into a close-knit-family-or-‘conected’-families owned corporates. In fact, VW owned a ~20% non-controlling stake in Suzuki Motors Japan between 2009 – 2015, and had to give it back just before the 2015 VW emissions scandal..
Enough of the boring history, and to get back to point. Almost a month has passed since Madras, now Chennai, revived itself like Volkswagen and Maruti Udyog. But during the Chennai Floods, I caught sight of a Maruti - version Zen, which was a improved verision of the original people’s car Maruti 800, with a Jelly Bean body and an upgraded engine – it was sold as Suzuki Alto in Europe.
The sight of the Maruti Suzuki Zen, just after the Chennai Flood, brought back memories of Herbie, the Love Bug. It was tied up almost as if it desired it, with the front right tire to a gate, and the left rear tire to a nearby tree. To top it (pun unintended), someone had placed an adrift plastic dustbin on it.
I could almost see the car winking at me, while so many others had been washed away in floods. To top it, I just enquired yesterday, and learnt that the car was running find with just an oil change, brake linings, and bit of others – though the interiors must smell awful.
Here is the snapshot of the Indian version of Herbie, the Love Bug, just after the Chennai Floods. Note the ropes securing the people’s car, and the blue dustbin hat on top.
No comments:
Post a Comment