Personal mobility as an extension of automotive sector

Since few weeks automobile manufacturers are causing tremors in Dalal street, given their Q1 results it shouldn't be surprising. Exactly an year ago, traders and as well as broking firms are equally optimistic about the stocks of motor manufacturers till the previous quarter. Its now time to ask ourselves "What has changed"?

The stagnant income of middle class and negligible increase in employment figures are less worry than the things on actual ground. When we talk about business of cars and bykes, we often forget where they end up for most part of their life and whats is the situation there. Yes I am talking about traffic on city roads. The Big Picture of the growth of Indian automotive sector lies in collateral damage to the urban life which is an undeniable fact, I am not here for some socialist rant but to explore the ideas to exploit the broken window economics.

Now it isn't too early to think the future of personal mobility does not lie in present day bykes and cars as it was thought way back in late 20th century, so it is time for Indian automotive manufacturers to think how and where the urban planning and vehicle design for next generation personal mobility is in dire need. The methodology should aim at best return on investment for a visionary and futuristic solution.

Readers may doubt my intuition, after all which Automobile manufacturer have had ever dream of venturing into urban town planning and building roads? Do you recollect Elon Musk's Boring company? If a new entrant in the centuries old elite dominated market could do something very different, it means that the old guards are not doing something right.

Indian automotive manufacturers for long tried to copy the German's model, The German manufacturers like Merc and BMW did not make any significant contributions to motor way design or urban design, may be because Germany is a small country with homogeneous people of similar thought post WW2, with uniformly distributed high literate population and less than a quarter of Germany's residents work in cities! governments exercised greater power to bring driving etiquettes among the citizens, on the other hand Indian cities have to cope up with 10 to 20 times the average population of European cities and with wide range of dwellers across the socio-economic spectrum.

I am convinced that Indian auto industry can monetize by providing the solutions to problems it is causing such #NoisePollution, #AirPollution and fall in physical activity of users due to automobile. There is less chance that Automobile sales will grow to the levels of 2016 or 2017 due to car pooling and change in car ownership mindset and there is no sign of union government bulldozing the EVs since the required infrastructure for charging points is not adequate either.

Lets hope the industrialists of India could come up with innovative products and services to make cities sustainable and to promote healthy eco-spaces.