[Maverick5490]

Well the growth in supercars segment is phenomenal by Indian standards over the past couple of yrs.. and cosidering the population of those who can afford these cars to Indias population.. it is negligible.. plus other factors like Roads, obscene amount of import taxes,and it is not always safe to show so much of wealth.. where either the govt gets u ar the goons!!

[1Day]

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

Well the growth in supercars segment is phenomenal by Indian standards over the past couple of yrs.. and cosidering the population of those who can afford these cars to Indias population.. it is negligible.. plus other factors like Roads, obscene amount of import taxes,and it is not always safe to show so much of wealth.. where either the govt gets u ar the goons!!

see the govt can get you if you are hidding something..but if not then..you can show your wealth as much to the govt, but the problems are the petty theives and the big time extortionists..

[loveybana]

Originally Posted by 1Day

roads is never a factor, I will tell you why..when you have the money and thats all the road you got what are going to do, sit in a M800 or drive a ferrari if you can..thats what I tell people, if I am sitting in a traffic jam, I much rather be in a maybach or a rolls or a S than a smaller indian car..cuz I am stuck anyways..

and as for the mafia..it might be on a decrease because all the new rich people already have paid these guys out for letting them be...

I know the harassing almost first hand..my fufaji got the call..but my nanna had big connections so got him off..the story was printed in the newspapers as well about 2-3 yrs back..

Great connections folk!!! You could be of help later.

[GTO]

Note from the Team-BHP Support Staff : This topic has been moved to the appropriate section.

We thank you for your thread, and would appreciate you taking the effort to post in the correct section.

[scopriobharath]

Summarizing given the situation may have changed from 2006-2011/2012

Buying Power
With an average USA salary, one could buy a used 90s ferrari for about 25,000 $. It is impossible to buy one in india for the same amount (15 lacs). Buying power in US is more than what it is india.

Bad Roads
There aren't "excellent" roads in india. Potholes, rumblers, speed-breakers are all deterents.

Inconsistent Road Quality
You can expect even a crater on tolled roads in india. Even if we are ready to pay 10 times the toll, good quality roads are not assured. Krishnagiri Salem Highway and Chennai-Bangalore Highway are good examples.

Traffic
I find driving a santro trouble some in chennai traffic. I can imagine what plight a supercar owner would have.

Speed Limit Enforcement
At the so called good stretches on your roads, speed limit would be enforced by a radar gun. Old Private Intercity buses driving rashly at 90kmph in a 50 kmph zone would be left scott-free but a brand new civic driving at 53 kmph on the leftmost lane would be caught and fined.

Traffic sense in india (both highways and City)
A TVS 50 on the wrong side of the road or a tractor would come right in front of you from nowhere. Imagine you are in a ferrari. That would be your worst nightmare.

Fuel Quality
It is rumoured that filling up from your local fuel station would damage your super car in the long run. I do not have a super car. This is just hand-to-mouth info.

Ever increasing Petrol costs
Not a concern for someone who can afford a supercar, but still it is a pinch. Fuel prices have almost doubled in 1.5 years. It is also expected that Petrol prices will increase further. That will be Manmohan Singh's gift to us for the new year.

Sparse dealer network & registration issues
It is a pain in the neck to buy a Ferrari in Delhi and register it in Tamil Nadu.

Only 1 service center throught india
A separate thread exists for the same. If i am in Chennai and have to sent the car for service every 6 months to Delhi, imagine the amount of pain. Transportation is not straight-forward in india. Lots of cheating and incompetent vehicles. Imagine cardboard cartons stacked on your Aston Martin.

Jealousy factor
The average uneducated joe will wantedly scratch his rusty bicycle on your supercar just out of jealousy. Needless to say the slum kids.

Policing and Legal issues
God forbid but if an alto hits a TVS 50 in a highway alongside a village, eventhough the TVS 50 is at fault, the alto is bashed up. Assume that Alto followed all traffic rules. Imagine what would be supercar driver's situation. Police and court formalities are not straight-forward. Ideally, if i hit a 2w/pedestrian and the fault is not mine, I should be allowed to walk away scott-free. If i hit a jaywalker, I should be allowed to walk away whether I am in a Bajaj Boxer or a Porsche Boxster and irrespective of whether the jaywalker lost his limbs or dies. Jaywalking is a punishable offense in india as per the traffic rules. The harrasment at the police-station/RTO/Court is a big detterent.

Maintenance Servicing and running costs
It is a pinch on the wallet for the average joe for maintenance and replacement of parts.

Service center's attitude in india
The "Chaltha Hai" or "Please Adjust" attitude in india is a big black mark. Be it Italian or German brand, the service center is run only by a chaltha hai indian. Complaining to the parent company is like complaining to the fish in your fish-tank. Service centers are not true to thier jobs and it is impractical for a chennai ferrari owner to supervise the work in a delhi workshop.

[azeemhafiz]

Considering our ridiculous customs and import duties - a person who drives a Ferrari in India, in essence pays twice the amount in comparison tp most of the other countries. To get a realistic comparison you need to double the number of supercars on our road and as mentioned earlier in the thread it is quite a lot.

A few reasons i can think of are :

Predominant Black economy - If the mafia's don't visit you rest assured the IT department will. After having known quite a few people from the different walks of business in India - I'm convinced that India may be poor, but Indians are rich!! Black Economy is a curse in many ways and primary reason for the low amount of interest in "Flashing wealth" aka buying Supercars

Infrastructure: We all know it, i'm going to save myself the trouble of listing it out here. And as a car lover if i start listing out my emotions on this topic <despite the high taxes we pay> Team BHP could quite possibly run out of server space.

Unlike some of the European countries and American Cultures - Cars are relatively new to us. Engraving the love of cars to our souls is a slow but a steady process, I'm confident that as time passes we are most definitely going to see a lot more super cars on our roads.

[stanjohn123]

Trust me there are enough rich indians who can afford these cars in India , on a rough calculation if the government did not have the CBU tax's on these car's , every super car owner in India would have owned 2 instead of one.

Then the other reasons I can think of are very poor service networks , difficult maintenance , poor infrastructure.

So owning supercar's in India is more like an inconvenience than a pleasure and not really worth all that money and hazzle in the end.