There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel
No
one would have believed that I would be driving less than 500km in April, or attending zero car launches or taking no flights. Or that there would be zero car sales across the industry last month or that millions of people across the world would be fighting for their lives. For never before in our generation or even the generation before that have we had a pandemic of such magnitude and scale. The last one, was more than a century ago.
We would have imagined that advances in medical sciences would have prevented the recurrence of a pandemic of the Spanish Flu type. However, we find ourselves in strange, unprecedented times. Given the experiences of some of the European nations there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, although the world on the other side will be a very changed world. How the industry adapts, what the fallouts are and whether we will see an increase in the need for personal transport as many our predicting, are some unanswered questions. But those are for another day and I just hope that it is sooner than later.
For now, I am happy that the automotive industry has adapted and helped out in many ways, whether with outreach programmes or with manufacturing of protective and essential medical equipment. We on our part have been working from home and have put together this issue mostly with archival material, or have done data driven stories or relied on our European editor. He drove along the perimeter of his country, first off road with a 4x4 vehicle and his colleague on the Royal Enfield Himalayan, and then using roads that were closest to the border (that story we have saved for the next issue). Enjoy this issue of the magazine and read about the cars that will be launched in the coming 12 months in India and also on how to tackle the summer and read about our exploring Delhi in the time of the lockdown with the new Hyundai Creta. But most importantly stay safe – stay at home and if you can’t then ensure physical distancing! Here is hoping that we will be back out on the roads in time for our next issue! Yogendra Pratap
Editor
yogendra.pratap@intoday.com @YogenPratap