Gora Complex. Review on Tata Safari DiCOR

The world is a safer place for drivers these days as most cars come pre-fitted with air-bags, ABS and traction-control (basically, stuff that makes it safer to play chicken on the road). Except that is if you plan on buying one of our local brands. It would seem as though the pride and joy of our nation’s car industry are still stuck in the Stone Age, with under-powered behemoths like the Safari and the Scorpio offering little more than a seat-belt to save your proverbial hide (that too only because it’s mandatory of late). One would think that’s understandable since Indians don’t really have the technology to create a world-class car.

But one look at the export profiles (over the internet) from these allegedly ‘down-market’ car companies and you immediately realize that these icons of the Indian car industry have yet to recover from the side-effects of colonial rule. They sell better cars with the latest gadgets and amenities in almost all countries except ours. Even the Safari has ‘Traction control’ as a standard fitting in Europe. But the real show-stopper is that all this and more is available at a lower cost than the basic seat-belt-laden models in India (three cheers for government subsidy).

One could say that these life saving gadgets aren’t mandatory in a country like ours. Maybe the car companies agree with the government in the claim that life in India is definitely cheaper than life in Europe (maybe it’s the exchange rate these days). But that theory would definitely point a finger at foreign car companies like Skoda who feel that Indians deserve world-class cars just as much as the Europeans do. So of course the local companies decide to conveniently blame the whole thing on globalization and other neo-imperialistic jargon. I’m sure it’s of no consequence that locals aren’t able to buy an Indian brand that sells abroad (déja vu for the East-India company?).

But trying to own even one of the simple cars they do oblige us with, is nothing short of a mission in itself. Asking for a test-drive of the 4x4 you intend buy is again considered blasphemy. What they’d have you do is test a 2 wheel drive and then pay 20% more for a 4 wheel drive vehicle you haven’t even seen yet (but I guess this is an improvement when you think of the older days when you had to book a car without even seeing a cardboard version of it first). Then of course there’s that little part where you have to wait a few hours before finally taking delivery since they wash and clean you car only after you show up. And don’t forget that rushing back to the showroom before you reach home because the brakes weren’t working bit (it’s not in the least bit uncommon). After all, how would they know your brakes don’t work if you don’t check them first, right?

I’d like to see them pull this off on our ‘gora’ counterparts. Maybe it would take another 50 years for our car industry to stop being colour blind. But until then, let’s all do the Romans and continue to buy foreign cars, and leave the Indian car industry to figure out why the foreign brands are beating local companies hollow.