No Broom. Only Vroom.

“Some of life’s precious things

became so with grit. Just look at

diamonds—lumps of coal that

performed well under pressure.”

— Anonymous

Being the good boy that I am (not), I dipped into the porridge bowl of soul-searching on Saturday. My intent was simple. Plunge in with a selfless tablespoon of honesty and dig into my recent writeups to determine whether I have been sprinkling joy on my fellow man, woman and child. I HAVE NOT. For 26 straight weeks out of a total of 341, I have cribbed and moaned and lamented and regurgitated on these pages. The world around us has been such; there has been little to cheer. The only time I didn’t play soothsayer or transmitter of doom was in December, when I wrote of New Year 2025. Even there, I managed to force-fit some doomsday caveats, the “don’t scratch your nuts if they ain’t itching” kind.

After all, that is what life has served up for global citizens today. Tough. Uncertain. Clammy. Scary. But here I am, adamant to write happy things. It is a tough ask, for the only visible green shoots are seeking out a sun that chooses to remain hidden behind dark clouds. To lay out a soulful tune, I can only turn to what gets me smiling when I am down—a look at all things auto. The exhilaration of being thrown back into the seat when you smash your foot on the pedal, the blur of the world as you scream past, the interjection of utter calm and mad euphoria pervading the cabin; sheer automotive nirvana… In my own short life, cars have gone from their giggly teens to budding youth to engorged manhood.

Painful Power-Flux Battle

At a time when global chaos has become the norm and headlines squawk of war, economic flaccidity and political upheaval, auto offers a few sweet notes of stability, even hope. This is an industry where innovation is not just visible, it is visceral. Something fantastic is happening. Cars are going green, yes, but in doing so, they are also adding instant and immense power that propels the rubber that marks the road behind. These are digital marvels and raw torque sitting astride yesterday’s chassis. The driver is cocooned in science fiction—touchscreen dashboards, AI co-pilots and electric drivetrains that launch him forward like a rocketship. But there’s more to automobiles than speed, the rustle of the wind and the smell of fresh leaves and pine-cones. It is an evolve-or-die world.

Auto firms are locked in a battle for relevance and survival. They are battling uncertainty, supply chain crises and a changing mindset. It is a paradox, for this very churn has forced cars to grow up—from fledgling aspirants to muscular, tech-laden titans. Every auto firm with any future aspirations is pushing the ‘D’ envelope: Design, Development and Delivery. In a world that is a crucible of disruption, autos have a fourth ‘D’ too: Death. Many of the world’s biggest companies are br(e)aking down.

Nowhere is this flux more compelling than in India—142 crore dreamers balance legacy hang-ups, middle-class aspirations, green mandates and yearn to go EV without divorcing the wallet. It is an irony that a market so full of ambition is shackled by economic heists. While an exciting playground for global firms, India’s potential is throttled by slow GDP, high interest rates and cautious consumer sentiment. Car and SUV sales have been softening, with dealers seeing higher footfalls but lower conversions.

ICE to EV & All Else Between

Globally, the humble car has shed its traditional DNA. Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) are no longer the soul, just one of many options. We have gone electric, connected and autonomous at a pace few could have foreseen a decade back. Electric vehicles (EVs) have marriage-like fangs—a union of fire-breathing performance and whisper-quiet elegance (unless you seek the ‘bark’, available on tap through the audio system). Hybrids have also found fans in a market where EV infrastructure is limping. Self-parking, voice-controls, touch-sensitive displays, ADAS, airbags, panoramic sunroofs, heads-up displays, cruise control and so much more come standard today, even in entry-level variants.

Automakers are now focusing on battery innovation, lightweight materials and AI-fed telematics. And what telematics! Cars update over-the-air like Smartphones, suggest nearby charging stations and predict maintenance cycles even before a squeak or rattle snaps the driver out of his 16-speaker audio system-induced reverie. The ownership concept is changing too—subscription models, micro-leases and shared mobility have turned ‘Car As A Service’ from an idea to an industry.

In India, there’s a dilemma as feature add-ons are forcing already-stressed auto firms to recalibrate. Prices cannot be hiked in a depressed market and cosmetic facelifts do not work anymore; automakers are forced to pack features, safety and better tech at lower prices. Cars that once came with roll-down windows now offer 13-inch infotainment screens, wireless charging and six airbags as standard equipment. The ‘Premium’ is now the ‘Expected’.

Soliloquy 1: The government is backing the ‘green’ transition. Subsidies, tax cuts, scrappage incentives and green number plates are common. Yet, infrastructural gaps threaten to undercut the scramble to change. Public charging stations are few in number, especially on highways and outside big cities. Apartment complexes have been slow to adapt. Fast-charging networks are just beginning to scale. Power distribution firms have EV charging meter application processes that remind one of the 1980s.

China Shock: Global EV Battle

A new Cold War is brewing and China is in the driver’s seat. State support, cost advantages, sheer scale and the freedom to innovate (and the threat of not doing so) have allowed Chinese automakers to work silently for a decade-and-a-half. Today, with guns blazing and horns blaring, they are flooding global markets with affordable, tech-heavy EVs that undercut competitors by thousands of dollars. Auto giants, especially in the West, are rattled and have no answers. That has led states and firms to push tariffs as they struggle to scale their EV portfolio and stem the flow of red ink onto balance sheets.

What of India? Chinese EVs haven’t made a big dent in our nation yet due to regulatory, tax and political barriers, but the game and pressure are both on, and they are very real. Manufacturers are tremulous, knowing this is one price-value game that will get brutal and bloody very soon. The silver lining is that this opens up a policy opportunity—if a strong local EV supply chain is created, especially in battery manufacturing and electronics, it will fulfil domestic demand and push exports. The problem is India’s import dependence for raw materials; China, realising this, is already blocking supplies and seeking scratch-my-back policy sops.

The Indian government has shown intent, but there are numerous speed bumps. Incentives like FAME-II, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and GST cuts have spurred demand, and states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have invested in EV parks, battery hubs and giga-factories. However, disbursements are often delayed and subsidies have been selectively suspended. Some states will soon go to the polls, and that may turn auto policy into a political football. No one knows if electric buses, shared taxis and last-mile vehicles will hit the goal net or be kicked out of the park once and for all.

Soliloquy 2: We also have the darker side of EVs—the environmental cost of battery-making, disposal and rare-earth mining. While EVs are angelic on the road, their advent is anything but. This is a concern, given India’s fragile ecology and patchy recycling infrastructure. Thus, while EVs promise clean mobility, the ecological impact of batteries cannot be ignored. Lithium, cobalt and nickel extraction is energy-intensive, ‘un-green’ and mired in questionable labour practices. Like other nations, India too cannot swap tailpipe pollution with upstream disasters.

As the engines of the past give way to the batteries of the future, what is clear is that cars are evolving. Despite the speed bumps, the ride looks exhilarating. But there is a caveat to watch out for, where sudden speed or misdirection may lead to a pile-on pancake. As Albert Einstein once said: “I do not know what weapons World War III is going to be fought with, but World War IV can be fought with sticks or stones.” That’s food for thought.

The writer can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal