The world has seen its longest traffic jam in North China. The jam, which stretched several miles and lasted for more than 10 days, is easing now. China, which beat Japan to become the second largest economy, is experiencing serious traffic problems despite its superior infrastructure. Though it has eased now, it could happen again, and it could be even worse. Now think of India. India is not known for its infrastructure and especially not for  its roads. The roads are often narrow, not well thought out, not well laid and most importantly not well maintained.
 

In England people drive on the left. In India people drive on whatever is left. 

 
If someone is visiting India for the first time, the roads can easily be confused with parking lots. Roads are typically used for anything from storing building materials to parking cars. The rules are blurry and the implementation of laws is lax.
 
Add to this the flurry of car and bike launches by global automakers. India has become the new darling of global automakers like Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Ford. These automakers hardly had three car models until last year. Seeing the mid-sized car segment growing, Ford chipped in with the Figo. It had an instant winner. Ford booked 10,000 Figos in less than two months. Buoyed by this success, Ford wants to launch eight new models in the next five years. That is double the number of models Ford had in the last 10 years. Czech carmaker Skoda will be launching its small car in the 3-5 lakh ($6,500-$10,800) segment in 2012. It will be launching its SUV, Yeti in the next few months.
 
Toyota is studying the Indian market actively to launch its small car Etios. This car will be launched in LPG/CNG version in addition to petrol and diesel. A hybrid Etios is also on the cards. Toyota might set up a facility in Bangalore to roll out Etios. Toyota plans to sell 60,000 Etios in 2011-12. Renault will be launching five new models in the next 3 years. Toyota also plans to launch its famous hybrid, Prius, in the Indian market later this year.

All the segments are seeing new launches. The prototype of a small car from Renault-Bajaj-Nissan alliance will be ready by next year. This car, which will be produced by Bajaj and marketed by Renault and Nissan, will be a direct competitor to Nano – the only car which doesn’t have any competition. What this means is there will be more affordable cars available.

There were times when only three car models are available. The good old Ambassador, then the stylish Premier Padmini and the then the ultra-modern Maruti 800. Not the same case now. If I can recollect from my memory these are the recent car launches : Hyundai i10, Hyundai i20, Ford Figo, Chevrolet Beat, Mahindra Xylo, Wolkswagen Polo, Fiat Punto and Nissan Micra. There were relaunches of existing models like WagonR and Alto from Maruti. Looking at the demand and to cater to the new design tastes of public, National Automotive Design Institute (NADI) was set-up at Ahmadabad.


India added 5,341 new vehicles per day in the year 2009-2010. It has added 592,405 cars, from April-July 2010. As per estimates, the now two million units could go up to to five million units by 2015. That is 13,000 cars being added to the roads everyday.

While China has excellent ideas to ease the traffic, like the ginormous bus which lets cars pass through it, India doesn’t have similar plans or designs. India is still trying to build its mass transit systems. Only Delhi and Mumbai has a metro system with Bangalore and Hyderabad still building theirs. The only place India has a slight advantage over China is the hybrids and fuel-efficient section. China plans to spend $15 billion in the hybrid car and fuel-efficient segment, adding at least half a million cars (hybrid or electric) to the roads every year. India doesn’t care much for these types. India’s minister, Jairam Ramesh thinks that India’s problems will not be solved with cars that can run on bio-fuels or electricity. Both forms of energy shift the problem to somewhere else. If biofuels need huge area and challenge food security, electricity puts pressure on coal-generated energy. This stance by the Indian government is the only thing which can slow down the growth.

Even with this surge in new car models and record sales in July, only 12 in 1,000 people have a car or a utility vehicle. What would happen if the number just doubles to 24? With the direct tax code lurking, there would be more money for the working class. With an increased disposable income and a car available for every budget, 24 cars per 1000 people suddenly looks optimistic. How long would the traffic jam be then?

PS: This discussion was revolving around the passenger cars. We haven’t even talked about the commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers.