#AutoverseWrapped2024 — Fast tracks and setbacks

The year 2024 has been a ride filled with twists and turns in both the global and Indian contexts. We saw the resurgence of brands, the rebirth of lost faith, the introduction of new segments, and a full stop to the exorbitant prices of new cars. This year has been transformative in multiple ways but certain letdowns will continue to persist—rise in road accidents, lack of civic sense, questionable reliability of new cars—to name a few. As we look back at the year 2024, we thought we would compile our key takeaways from all the happenings in the automotive landscape. Keeping the nerdy stats away, Amit and Aryan let their thoughts flow and hope that you can relate to what they have managed to capture in the #AutoverseWrapped2024.

Biggest fast tracks of 2024

A safe Maruti Suzuki for India — Finally!

The biggest carmaker in India—Maruti Suzuki—boasts over 40% market share. While still largely impressive, Suzuki’s market share slumped down from 50% over the last couple of years. The demise of diesel engines, rising customer aspirations, and lack of features are some of the reasons that can be attributed to the decline in share. Still, the biggest blow came with the perception of safety. Tata Motors was acing the Global NCAP results with flying colours, whereas Maruti Suzuki models scored dismal results. As things panned out over the years, Maruti Suzuki lost 3 percent market share to Tata Motors in FY2022 sales. 

Even today, the market sees Maruti Suzuki models as cost-effective workhorses that would sacrifice safety to eke out any gains in fuel efficiency, except for certain models like the Brezza and Grand Vitara. But the year 2024 brought a big change to the market as the new Maruti Suzuki Dzire scored 5 stars in Global NCAP. This has to be the biggest highlight for the Japanese carmaker in 2024 behind the facade of stonking sales. 

This single result will play a crucial role in changing the market perception of Maruti Suzuki as a brand in the eyes of Indian customers for years to come. What’s even more impressive is that Maruti Suzuki has managed to achieve this result without tweaking its successful recipe of no-nonsense and ultra-reliable cars with terrific fuel efficiency. Add proven safety and a bucket load of features and you get the new Dzire, ready to set the sales charts on fire. We can’t help but hope that Maruti Suzuki continues with this uptrend of keeping safety at its core of vehicle development for the coming models. 

Related: New Maruti Suzuki Dzire 2024 launched in India — Price, features, engine, and more

Mahindra EVs — more to come

Bolero. Scorpio. Thar. Those are the SUVs that first come to mind when we think of Mahindra. The automaker is known for its no-nonsense diesel SUVs. But this hasn’t stopped it from trying its hands on developing newer technologies that cater to the present, and more importantly, the future. If you’re not living under a rock, it must have been obvious by now that we’re talking about Mahindra’s new electric SUV duo — the Mahindra BE 6 and the Mahindra XEV 9e. 

Unlike the XUV400 which is built on a modified conventional platform that was developed for ICE vehicles, the BE 6 and 9e are underpinned by a new global modular skateboard architecture that Mahindra has developed from scratch, with some components taken from Volkswagen’s MEB platform. 

This is big, not just for Mahindra, but for the Indian automotive industry as a whole. No, we aren’t suggesting you grab your wallets right away and make a run for these cars, they are bound to have their own set of issues, which is typical for every new tech in the market, but we have to acknowledge Mahindra’s efforts in taking such a bold step and investing crores of rupees on something that the world knows a little about. And the end result is surely electrifying, to say the least. 

Related: Mahindra BE 6e electric SUV launched at Rs 18.90 lakh

Honda-Nissan merger — The next Stellantis?

Speaking of innovation, no matter how big or significant a company might be, if it fails to move ahead with time, someone else is bound to take its place. That is precisely what has been happening with a bunch of legacy automakers all over the globe. With increasing competition from EV manufacturers such as BYD from China and Tesla from the States, automakers such as Honda and Nissan are struggling to keep up and maintain their sales numbers. 

News is that the two carmakers, which also happen to be among the world’s biggest players, are in talks for a potential merger to form a joint holding company that will most likely include Nissan’s automotive business, Mitsubishi’s car business, and all of Honda’s subsidiaries including their motorcycles and power products. Historically, there hasn’t been any merger that came into existence when all the parties involved were doing good in their respective areas. Nor was it all a happy and jolly post the merger. Take Stellantis for example. The group is among the world’s largest in terms of sales and has a portfolio of legendary brands like Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Fiat, and Chrysler. But the group has been struggling too and is reportedly looking to let go of underperforming brands such as Maserati, whose history dates back even before Ferrari’s. 

Coming back to the Honda-Nissan merger talks, there would be implications on the carmakers’ respective Indian subsidiaries that we can not really predict the outcome of just yet. For instance, Nissan has a manufacturing plant that it shares with Renault near Chennai, the future of which remains uncertain. You can read more about the Honda-Nissan merger in this news report. 

Introduction of coupe SUVs for the masses

While the SUV onslaught has been continuing for many years, a new trend has emerged in the Indian market in 2024. Called the Coupe SUV, this body style slams down the SUV’s roof from the C-pillar onwards, giving preference to aerodynamics over butch stance. Some get it seriously wrong while some manage to carve out some astonishing silhouettes, but since design is subjective, you can’t be sure what works and what doesn’t. 

From the looks of it, you may feel hard-pressed to find the advantages of such a body style, but there are many. Since its roof slopes down and merges seamlessly with the boot, it improves aerodynamics by cutting down on drag, thereby improving fuel efficiency. Furthermore, the flow of air also negates the use of a rear windscreen wiper, further cutting down on manufacturing costs. And then there are the small advantages like premium positioning in the herd of SUVs and sometimes, just sometimes, aesthetical advantages too. 

Coupe SUVs are quite popular in the global markets, with both mass-market and premium carmakers having their respective models. However, until 2024, no mass-market carmaker offered coupe SUVs in the Indian market. But that changed with the introduction of two coupe SUVs—the Citroen Basalt and the Tata Curvv, which is further offered in both ICE and EV propulsions. Then we went on to see two astonishing unveils from Mahindra, and you guessed it right, both are electric Coupe SUVs—the BE 6 and XEV 9e.

Take a look at the new Coupe SUV launches in 2024 in India:

• Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 AMG
• Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 AMG 
• Citroen Basalt
• Tata Curvv
• Mahindra BE 6 
• Mahindra XEV 9e 

New energy vehicles gaining popularity.

Cars running on alternate fuels have gained popularity this year, as is evident from the above two instances. JSW MG Motor India sells more EVs in India than ICE cars —70% in November 2024 to be specific. Even Hyundai and Tata are pushing EVs big time. But this is not restricted to just pure electric vehicles, hybrids have also started becoming mainstream in the country, and that’s a good thing. 

Hybrids offer the best of both worlds—they use less rare earth minerals than pure EVs, they can be run solely on petrol so you don’t have to worry about the range, they offer better performance as well as better fuel efficiency, and they come much cheaper than pure electric cars, generally (we’re looking at you Honda). Toyota has been very vocal about hybrids for years now, and it has the most number of hybrids on sale presently, counting the ones from Lexus’ stable too. 

The Indian government has also played a crucial role in the acceptance of EVs with key initiatives in tax reductions and providing subsidies. While the share of hybrids and electric vehicles has been surging, the one fuel being pulled down in this scenario is diesel. While diesel was so popular not long ago that even cars as compact as the Hyundai i20 used to come with a diesel engine, it has now almost vanished from mainstream cars, barring cars from OEMs like Tata, Mahindra, Hyundai, and Kia. Maruti Suzuki, Volkswagen, Skoda, and Honda do not have a single diesel engine in their portfolio in India at present. We have written on this in an elaborate fashion in another story that you can read here.

While the share of electric vehicles is rising, the growth isn’t as much as carmakers expected it to be. This has resulted in many of them pushing their deadlines of becoming solely EV manufacturers a few years ahead, and some have even declared a reborn interest in developing ICE and hybrid powertrains. Major carmakers that have acted in such fashion include Ford, Porsche, Volvo, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, and more. They have decided to wait until things become clearer and there is more certainty in the markets. 

World-class road infrastructure

While our Indian roads are far from perfect compared to golden global standards, it’s high time that we appreciate the ever-evolving road infrastructure across the country. Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed the introduction of multiple state- and national highways, making road transport faster, safer, and more convenient than ever before. Take the Delhi-Mumbai expressway—an 8-lane wide national highway connecting Delhi and Mumbai and cutting down travel time by half, once fully operational. The convenience that the Delhi-Mumbai expressway brings to the public is immense, however, there is no hiding that it has been riddled with potholes and poorly constructed patches of late.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has also laid down plans to further expand national and state highways across the country. A few from the list that are soon to be operational are the Delhi-Amritsar expressway, Bangalore-Chennai expressway, Varanasi-Kolkata expressway, and Delhi-Dehradun expressway among other projects that are in the pipeline. As the infrastructure across the country is emerging at such a high pace, instilling civic sense in road users holds crucial importance. Only with civic sense and awareness we, as a society, will take complete advantage of such highways and reduce the risk of fatal accidents. These mentioned points are a few of the issues that will continue to persist in the year 2025. We have shared our thoughts on the same and some more in the story ahead. 

A few setbacks of 2024

Road accidents still on the rise despite safer cars

We spoke of the world-class road infrastructure that is being set up across the country. In addition, we have also witnessed an emerging concern for safer cars in the minds of new-car buyers. Multiple surveys revealed that vehicle crashworthiness or crash test safety holds a paramount importance in making a new-car purchase decision. As we are driving India in safe cars on world-class infrastructure, the obvious benefit, which is a reduction in accidents, is hardly visible.

In a recent speech in Lok Sabha, Mr Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, opened up and shared his concern on increasing road accidents despite having many national highways. As revealed by Gadkari, the government aimed to decrease road accidents by 50% in the year 2024 but as it turned out, road accidents only increased with close to 60% of the accidents taking place on National Highways. Mr. Gadkari can be seen openly sharing his thoughts on emerging road accidents by attributing such lapse to poor road construction and repair, irregular lane and other crucial markings, and irregularities in the issuance of driving licenses.

In order to bring a transformational change in road safety, the government will have to start from the grassroots level. Factors like driving behavior, adherence to traffic rules, proper issuance of driving license, strict imposition of speed limits, proper road markings, and usage of safety gear are a few of the many that play a crucial role that will go a long way in decreasing road accidents across the country. 

Lack of civic sense — no use of child seats etc. 

It is our right to demand well-built roads, world-class infrastructure, and good cars. But it is as much of our responsibility to be better drivers and sensible citizens. As much as it is our right to demand five-star safety-rated cars, it is equally our responsibility to use seatbelts and child car seats at all times. As much as it is our right to demand good roads, it is equally our responsibility to drive on the correct side and in the correct lane. Let’s not even get started about the erroneous use of high beams. 

To cut things short, there’s a certain lack of civic sense in our society and things can only be made better once we accept our faults and show the initiative to make the effort to become better citizens and responsible drivers. India’s roads will not become better and safer in a day, but improvement can be made each day. The best way that we can think of is making driver’s license regulations stricter, enhancing enforcement, and educating the masses. We would love to hear what you think can be done to change things for the better. 

Poor reliability of cars

As we move to cars that contain numerous electronic modules and controllers to perform all the vital functions, reliability in the long run has started to become a big concern. We have seen a considerable shift in the Indian market, with the cars getting more advanced to match emerging customer expectations. While legacy carmakers having spent years and billions in R&D are not struggling, certain carmakers have got their hands dirty with poor customer feedback on their cars. From having occasional small software glitches to the airbags getting deployed when standing still, the range of these reliability issues is through the roof.

When talking about poor reliability, Tata Motors paints the most vivid picture, backed by innumerable customer complaints and posts containing utmost dissatisfaction. While there are other carmakers on the list as well, Tata Motors seems to be struggling the most, with its premium range of cars like the Harrier and Safari, with multiple glitches plaguing the SUV duo. Both the Harrier and Safari cost in the ballpark of Rs 30 lakh ex-showroom and at such a premium price, no customer should face reliability concerns. The problems are worsening every day for Tata Motors and putting an ever-growing dent in the reputation of the homegrown carmaker, which otherwise was sailing comfortably on VocalForLocal slogans on the high tide of patriotism.

While carmakers including Tata Motors should put more emphasis on customer satisfaction and after-sales service, Indian customers should also take the matter seriously and exercise their rights rather than dropping their frustration online. Of course, the latter helps the unaware customers to understand the nuances of ownership experience but there is a scope to further improve the impact. In addition, it is high time for the Indian automotive industry to have a celestial body to gauge customer satisfaction and act as a unified customer voice raising concerns towards the carmakers. Customer awareness in these matters will go a long way in bettering the position of the Indian automotive industry as a whole, a significant portion of which is explained in the next point.

Check This Out: Over 2,00,000 Hyundai and Kia EVs recalled in USA — Here's the issue

Uninformed buyers

If you have made it here, you are genuinely concerned about the state of the Indian automotive industry. Nonetheless, it is going to get better; may there be innumerable potholes and hiccups on the road ahead, we can navigate all with you steer with assertiveness. The change begins with you; it may sound cliched but stands correct. But what is it that you can do to bring a change? 

By being mindful of what you are consuming and improving your knowledge and implementing learnings every day. There are a slew of content creators out there, ready to serve you half-baked content, mostly influenced by money or misinformation. It’s up to you whether you want to dig deeper into that rabbit hole or steer towards those who speak for the betterment; who help to better the rules and not break them; who carry a sense of responsibility towards their viewers and not entitlement. I can use this opportunity to speak out my thoughts further but that’s not to anyone’s advantage. Supporting the right creators, abiding by the traffic rules, voicing our feedback to the ones who bring change, and taking responsibility for our actions will transform things at the grassroots level, thereby ensuring a safer tomorrow, for us and for the upcoming generations.