Deliveries for
the Ford Mondeo have begun. The first delivery, on December 17, was a low-key
affair at Mumbai’s Wasan Ford dealership. There were no garlands, no
‘diya’ lit and no coconuts smashed. The official launch had taken
place a month earlier in five-star style, so why make a fuss about the first
sale, right? Wrong.
When Randy Shockley, Ford India’s marketing chief, handed over the
keys to a very lucky Mr Vasant Chheda, no one realised that it was a historic
moment. Not because this was the first Mondeo to be sold in India but due
to the fact this was the first imported car to be freely sold since 1948!
For the past half-century, car imports have been virtually banned or severely
restricted and ordinary car buyers like Mr Chheda had to make do with what
was locally manufactured or assembled. Does this mean we can expect a flood
of imports from now on? Unfortunately no.
Though the ‘quantitative restrictions’ or QRs in WTO-speak have
been lifted, which theoretically opens the doors to imports, in reality
they are even more tightly shut. A fresh maze of red tape and regulations,
spun by the policy makers at the behest of the paranoid domestic industry,
has made it difficult for foreign car companies to import and sell cars
in India. To sell an imported car in the open market, foreign car makers
have to go through a farcical ‘homologation’ procedure laid down
by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), which essentially
determines whether the car is roadworthy or not. Never mind the fact that
all imported cars have already passed the most stringent of safety and emissions
tests to past the strictest of standards of other international markets.
What’s more, the rules say that every variant has to be re-homologated,
so when Ford decides to bring in an automatic version or a different engine
for the Mondeo, it’s back to the ARAI grind. And the official reason
for ARAI not accepting the homologation certificate from the car’s
country of origin? Because the ARAI certificate is not accepted internationally.
How’s that for tit for tat?
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January 2002 