‘Don’t promote SUV vehicles’, know why the Chief of Global NCAP said this
David Ward, Executive Chairman of the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP), said, “India, a country in the top list in terms of road accidents, needs to follow the United States (US) path for sports utility vehicles (SUVs). should avoid.
The demand for Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) in India is very high which is increasing rapidly with time. Hardly any other country can find as many different variants of SUV vehicles as are seen in the Indian market. Indian customers get to choose from many different sizes of SUVs including mini, micro, compact, mid-size and full-size. Global NCAP Chief David Ward has said a big thing about this increasing demand and promotion of big size SUVs, he has called it bad news for road safety.
India is one of the top ranking countries in terms of road accidents. According to new data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), at least one person dies every 3 minutes in road accidents in the country, with 1,55,781 lives lost in road accidents during the year 2022. and 4,43,366 people were injured. In such a situation, safety of passengers on the road is a big question.
What did Global NCAP Chief say:
Meanwhile, David Ward, Executive Chairman of the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP), said, “India, a country in the top list in terms of road accidents, has to go through the United States (US) for sports utility vehicles (SUVs). “should be avoided because they make the roads less safe for other small cars, pedestrians and cyclists.”
David Ward said this during the 3-day ‘Global Road Safety Initiative’ program organized in New Delhi by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) in partnership with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India and United Nations Economic and Social Cooperation. David Ward clearly stated, “It would be a big mistake if the Indian auto industry followed the American example in terms of SUV size and weight. For our climate targets and road safety, vehicle size is more important than ever before.” makes more sense.”
He said, “Recent studies conducted in various countries have shown that the car industry’s continued efforts to sell bigger and heavier SUVs in every segment is bad news for road safety, especially for those driving small, efficient vehicles and small SUVs. For car users, it is extremely important for countries like India that the government encourages vehicles in the market that are safer.
Don’t encourage big SUVs:
David further said, “The increasing demand for SUVs in India and other countries is a challenge to road safety and the environment, governments should not encourage the sale of these large vehicles. In recent times, cars have become bigger, longer and heavier. “Many studies have shown that SUVs and pick-up vehicles are more lethal to younger or vulnerable road users (VRUs) in almost any crash.”
What do sales figures say:
There is no doubt that SUV vehicles have rapidly spread their presence in the Indian market. The compact SUV segment has almost marginalized the demand for hatchbacks and other small cars. Since every second car sold in India is an SUV or MPV, their growth rate is much higher than that of hatchbacks or sedans. This is the reason why most of the vehicle manufacturing companies are busy introducing their vehicles in the Utility Vehicle (UV) segment. Some companies are even launching new SUV cars on the platform of their existing models.
SUV sales in India were projected to grow by 26 percent year-on-year in the first 8 months of fiscal year 2024 between April and November 2023. The share of SUVs in the total passenger vehicle sales in the country has increased rapidly, this can be gauged from the fact that till September it was estimated at 51 percent, in November this year it has increased to 53 percent.