Webasto wants to market the concept of sunroofs as a heat-beating option.
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Do you know that the temperature of a car parked in the heat can go upto 70 degrees celsius? It's a microcosmic version of the greenhouse effect: solar heat radiation has a wavelength that lets it get into the car, but the heat gets trapped because the interiors radiate heat in a wavelength that can't pass through glass to get out. |
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What you need is a window in the roof "" a sunroof. The feature you see in those fancy cars. |
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Wait "" fancy cars? |
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Not for much longer, if Webasto, which supplies car-makers with sunroofs as original equipment, has its way. "Sunroofs occupy a niche and are looked upon as high-end products," says Arvinder Gill, president, Webasto, which has been selling the concept here for two years now, "but there are options which cater to the masses as well." |
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Though the Opel Astra Club was the first to offer a sunroof option in India, now it's only Mercedes, Chevrolet Optra and the three Skoda cars (Laura, Superb and Rally) that come with this accessory option. Webasto wants other marques to join them. |
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While a high-end sunroof can bump up the car's sticker price by Rs 1.5 lakh, an elementary one would be only around Rs 10,000 extra, according to Gill. |
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The current market in India is barely 30,000 units per annum (up 20 per cent last year over the previous), and to expand it, Gill needs to reposition the sunroof. Instead of a style element, it must become an accessory with palpable benefits. |
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"The car looks cool with a sunroof," he says, "but it also helps in lowering the temperature of the car and allows fresh air in." |
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The company has made some attempts to approach the end consumer directly, via roadshows. But it's word-of-mouth that will have to do the trick. |
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"When air-conditioners were launched in cars 20 years ago, they too were considered a luxury, but now they have become an absolute necessity." |
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That's a valid point. But the idea of another window, that too in such an unexpected place, may take some getting used to. |
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