I read it accidentally on ABC news and I took it complete in our blog, because I don't know how long will it be readable (we have some links, which doesn't more working because the report was deleted).
Anyway, the link is http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/28/1964129.htm and if it doesn't work the report is below.
Posted Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:45am AEST
Updated Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:51am AEST
Roads in India are already congested with traffic. (Reuters: Krishnendu Halde)
It may be an Indian consumer's dream - cheap cars for $A3,000-$A3,600 within reach of millions of people in the swelling middle class. But it could also prove to be a traffic and environmental disaster.
Nissan Motor Co and Renault SA announced last week they were studying a $A3,600 car to compete in India against Tata Motors Ltd's planned low-cost "People's Car" targeted at a similar price to hit the market next year.
For its supporters, cheap cars like these are what the Volkswagen Beetle was to Germany or the Mini to England - the spoils of an economic boom for aspiring middle classes.
To its detractors, India will see an explosion in traffic and pollution on its already clogged roads from its more than 1.1 billion inhabitants.
It will add to India's CO2 output just as many Western nations push the Asian giant to control emissions.
Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director at the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, says India cannot cope with expansion at this pace.
"It's just not sustainable, whether from an environmental point of view or in terms of congestion," she said.
The World Bank this year said air pollution in India was already "of great concern".
Swelling middle class
India has low car ownership rates - there are seven to eight cars per 1,000 people compared with 300-500 cars per 1,000 people in many Western nations - but annual passenger vehicle sales in India are expected to double to two million units by 2010.
In New Delhi alone, more than 200,000 vehicles are added to its streets every year, where they battle with cows, rickshaws and motorbikes for space.
It is all part of a middle class that will expand by 10 times from its current size of 50 million to 583 million by 2025, according to consultancy firm McKinsey.
Well-known Indian auto columnist Murad Ali Baig says it is a colossal market.
"The low-price car market is already robust," he said.
"Imagine what will happen when even cheaper cars are available? The question is - where are all the bloody roads to cope?"
The Government is busy trying to build and widen highways across the country, including a highway system that will link New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Pollution
But air pollution is already at "critical levels" in more than half of India's main cities, according to the Centre for Science and Environment.
Environmentalists say that while new cars will have emission limits, these are still 10 years behind European levels.
"Cars in India will be on the road for between 10 and 15 years and no one will monitor to see if their emissions worsen over the years," Ms Roychowdhury says.
"India is creating a car culture just when other countries are trying to learn from their mistakes."
But many Indians who weave their motorbikes in between traffic would jump on the chance of the comfort of a car.
Aman is a 39-year-old Indian chauffeur who earns about $A180 per month driving his employers' cars.
"If I can buy a 30,000 rupee scooter, then I can now hope to buy a car for 100,000 rupees when it comes out. Now, people like me can think about owning a car," he said.
"I drive cars for my employers. Maybe I will drive my own car one day."
Officials say they are boosting public transport, pointing to metro plans in major cities. In New Delhi, the Government's switch of buses and taxis to cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) cut carbon monoxide levels by up to 80 per cent.
Companies like Tata say they upgraded all their four to six cylinder engines to meet international emissions standards. The company has manufactured CNG versions of buses.
PK Nanda, director of the government-run Central Road Research Institute, says it is a democracy so the Government cannot stop people buying cars.
"We don't want more personalised vehicles, but if there have to be more cars, small is better than large," he said.
- Reuters
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