CD changer – or a new car?
04 November 2007
In Western Europe we have not only a proud tradition in automotive electronics, it has also been one of the areas that has remained robust amid the stampede to oursource and offshore over the past decade. The same is true in America – maybe our ‘developed’ nations are so fond of our cars that we can’t let them go elsewhere.
But, inevitably, in the same way that the Japanese revolutionised the world technology order a generation ago, so the new breed of manufacturing giants are beginning to make their mark. In fact the similarities are quite striking.
In Europe, back in the days before (even) I was born, there was a thriving motorcycle industry with world leading brands and while manufacturing was expensive and inefficient, there was nothing to compare it with that was inexpensive and efficient. And they were lovely bikes. Then came the Japanese with mass produced machines that replaced character with firstly, lower prices and ultimately better technology. Japanese innovation then became a major force in global industry.
The parallel I am drawing with cars from emerging manufacturing nations still needs to run its course before it proves to be true. But I read with astonishment the development in India of a car that hopes to retail for around US$2500. Now I am on the verge of getting a new car and have specified only a few ‘extras’ – parking sensors (vital for someone who managed to reverse into a 150 foot tree), CD changer (a must have) and metallic paint (pointless extra I am not proud of) - and these came to slightly more than the target price of this new car. The ‘one-lakh’ car (a lakh is 100,000 rupees) should be made available by manufacturer Tata next year. Tata, incidentally, are favourites to buy premium motor brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford this week.
$2500 is also about the same I paid for my first laptop over a decade ago, which really was not extortionate at the time. The amount of computing power you could squeeze into a laptop of the same value now would keep a small company satisfied unless they were all playing Halo 3 at the same time.
But what about the amount of computing power that goes into a car. I don’t know whether it a myth or not, but I have heard it said many times that the amount of electronics in a BMW 7-series far exceeds the amount that took man to the moon. So given the reliance of the modern car on electronics – can a car really work if it costs little more than a laptop? Obviously Tata believes it can and I believe there are many other manufacturers chasing the low-cost car markets that are opening up in the developing countries – particularly India and China.
But could these pared back cars be a significant blow for the high-tech automobile industry? The Tata car will come equipped with a speedometer and fuel gauge and that is it. So engineers whose livelihoods depends on designing and making clever gadgets for cars are not going to be too excited at the prospect. And even if the cars themselves do not make it to the Western markets, there will inevitably be some sort of ripple-down effect as more familiar cars and fuel get more expensive. I don’t actually believe that safety and environmental legislation in the European Union would allow a car that cheap and basic to be sold, but it is a foundation that could be added to to build up towards compliance.
Personally, I see a huge market for this type of car in India and China, but only a limited one in Europe and America. We have grown used to nice cars and expect more from them. The Mini was the first modern car to be small and cheap. It was cramped, bone-rattling, unsophisticated and yet had immense charm. The new Mini, having been revamped by BMW, is not cramped, and is comfortable and technologically very advanced - and still has immense charm. Unfortunately it is not cheap either, which misses the point of its ground-breaking ancestor. But I do think it is indicative of what people in the West want from their cars these days. And it is a lot more than fuel gauge and a speedo!
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