Beginning on a Buoyant Note
The New Year was ushered in with a veritable flurry of activity in the automobile industry. Kick-starting it was the Auto Expo which should have been held last year but had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Then followed the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) Awards on the 12th of January.
Only seven major car manufacturers were present at the Expo this time: Maruti-Suzuki, Tata, Hyundai, KIA, Toyota, Morris Garages (MG), and BYD. The prominent manufacturers who opted out were Mahindra, Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Force Motors, Renault, Nissan, and the entire VW Group. Quite a few concept cars were showcased by Tata Motors, MG, Maruti-Suzuki, and KIA. While Maruti unveiled the Fronx and the Jimny, Hyundai launched the ionic5 at the Auto Expo.
The jury round for the ICOTY Award was held at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) at Noida. There were strong contenders in all the three categories and the award ceremony was held at the Andaz Hotel in Delhi. It was a grand evening graced by the presence of the who’s who of the automobile industry.
The award for the Luxury Car of the Year went to the Mercedes-Benz EQS, that for the Green Car of the Year to the Kia EV6, and that for the Indian Car of the Year to the KIA Carens. All the awards were presented by Dr Raghupati Singhania, CMD, JK Tyres, the ICOTY sponsors. JK Tyres put up a great show and it was appreciated by one and all.
Touching upon a disturbingly worrisome issue once again, the problem of road safety is getting worse by the day with more and more people flouting traffic rules, driving on the wrong side of the road, and becoming aggressive in spite of being the offenders. We would like to reiterate for the umpteenth time that traffic rules need to be implemented strictly and the offenders penalised with heavy fines. Indeed, habitual offenders should be put behind the bars.
EDITOR – ASPI BHATHENA
