Niche Publications
This month Car India celebrates its 17th anniversary. In 2004, Next Gen Publishing was formed with funding by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group and HDFC. It would have been very easy to follow the proven formula of launching an automotive magazine covering everything: two-wheelers, cars, and commercial vehicles. Today Next Gen is the only publishing house in the country to bring out a dedicated bike magazine, Bike India, a dedicated car magazine, Car India, a dedicated commercial vehicle magazine, CV India, as well as a dedicated automotive components magazine, Auto Components India. Car India covers both cars and sport utility vehicles (SUV).
The driving and riding habits of the people in India are going from bad to worse. Driving on the wrong side of the road without batting an eyelid seems to have become the norm. The other day I was driving back from Mumbai in the afternoon and the guardians of the law, policemen in a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, were driving on the wrong side on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway between Lonavla and Khandala. If the police themselves set such a bad example and that too on the Expressway, how can we expect ordinary citizens to obey the law? The transport minister insists on six airbags in all cars to improve safety. Before that, however, we should first learn to obey the traffic rules and make the driving test truly stringent.
As we celebrate the 17th anniversary, I would like to thank all our readers and the manufacturers for their support over the past 17 years. I would also like to thank our marketing team, our designers, and the copy desk editor for their hard work throughout the year.
Please drive safely and obey all the traffic rules. Once again, I would like to thank our readers and manufacturers for all their support.
EDITOR – ASPI BHATHENA
