Barely a year ago, the difference in the price of a litre of petrol and diesel was at an all time high (Rs. 27.19) in favour of the latter. Read more

They are not exactly similar vehicles. Nor do they belong to the same segment. So to call it a rivalry in the strict sense of the word would be a stretch. Even then, India being a country where an eventual Wagon R customer would also consider a Honda City at a given time, pitting the Renault Duster and Mahindra XUV in the same bracket should not come as a surprise. Read more

During the course of a week, I get numerous mails from people looking to buy cars and soliciting advice for the best purchase. Often, they also get back to me with the details of their choice and an appraisal of the vehicle vis a vis the others that were being considered. Read more

Every year, the union budget that decides in some ways how richer or poorer we will get during the course of the year throws up a fair share of mindboggling policies. Rules that have no precedence, come out as a bolt out of the blue and prima facie, lack any sense of logic. Worse, sometimes they dont even have a sense of humour and only stress how far removed some of our bureaucrats are from reality. Or from technical knowhow. Read more

Oblivious to most car owners in the country, a pitched battle is being fought by 17 car manufacturers in India and some proponents of free market economy that may alter in some significant quantum, the shape of the after sales aspect of owning an automobile in the country. The moot point is the alleged monopoly of the car industry on spare parts and the Competition Commission of India stands as the judge in the matter. It’s a multi layered problem with varied repercussions. Here is how. Read more

In the midst of the riverie and small talk, the naked man with ash all over him, suddenly snaps at me.

“Why do you guys call my car dog’s dinner?” he asks, his pink eyes heavy with the hash he has been smoking all his life. Read more

A thousand questions raised, a million thoughts provoked, a billion bones chilled, a nation shamed. The pangs of regret on why that evening had to be so horrid, why could it not have been like any other wintry night…were if you ask me, obvious. The girl should have been with us in 2013. She should have been oblivious and invisible to us, like she was on December 15. Read more

Like every other year, dozens of cars–big and small, awful and spectacular, practical and extravagant–will hit the roads this year as well. And like always only a few will hit the bull’s eye and the others will fall by the wayside. These are the some that look worth waiting for. Read more

The Civic has always been a car that has divided public opinion…straight down the middle. Those who loved and ended up buying it, swore by its cockpit like interiors, refinement, agility, comfort and ability to beat the shit out of a diesel pumping heart of Skoda Octavia. Those who did not, berated it for its ground clearance and gas guzzling nature. And as the gas, petrol in this case, became more and more dearer and its parent Honda became more and more distanced from the market realities, Civic paid the price. Read more

For over 2 years, Honda Cars India has been at the receiving end of the unprecedented diesel rush that has enveloped the consumer mindset across the country. It is this, that has led to the diminishing halo of a company that had at one point of time led every segment it participated in. Read more