There are certain things we take for granted in the automotive world. Stuff like, factory fresh new cars being loaded onto trucks and trains for transport to dealerships. As it turns out, this is kind of a new concept in some far flung corners of the world, like Nepal. We ran across a news story that explained normal practice for getting new cars to dealers was to hire drivers to put hundreds and sometimes up to 1,000km on the car just getting it to the lot!
While it naturally stinks to think that your “new” car has been driven a long distance before your fanny ever hit the seat, it is not totally clear if the odometers were hooked up and running during this drive or if the vehicles showed no mileage when the new owners got them. Additionally, the story talks about some of the human pitfalls of the “driver” system, mainly the facts that the drivers would take on passengers for extra money (hey, you are actually buying a used cab!) or take short cuts over rugged terrain that would leave the vehicles scratched, occasionally dented, and often sporting suspension damage from covering roads they had no business being on.
The truck…yes singular truck Ford will use is a specially built Ashok-Leyland big rig. The photos in the lead of the story is not the actual truck but it is a picture of an Ashok-Leyland. They are a very large truck builder in India and have been in business for decades.
An odd piece of news, for sure if you live in the western world. It certainly gives an interesting look into some of the challenges that car makes face in the global automotive industry!
Does it say something about Ford trucks that the Ford Motor Company would not use Ford trucks to transport Ford cars in Nepal?
I don’t think Ford builds a Semi anymore and even so, the Fords in India are all small cars from what I noticed when I was there. You want something even remotely pickup like you a Mahindra MAXX or a Toyota. Lorries are all Ashok-Leyland for the most part.
India has very xenophobic commerce laws, something like 99% of the cars are build in country to include things like Mercedes, BMW, and Honda’s. I didn’t see a single VW Bug while I was there.
Bruab, the Himalayan?