Rohin Nagrani: Life's been good so far

MY WEEK

Driving several Volkswagens at Wolfsburg, VW's hometown, is easy. The tough one, however, is covering the massive Frankfurt Motor Show. On the eve of the show, it has become some sort of a ritual with manufacturers to unveil their cars to a large group of journalists. The big launches from VW include the Up!, the Audi A4 and Lamborghini's Reventon, three of eight cars on a very innovative moving stand that brings each car to the centre of the hall, with the respective business heads taking the wraps off them. One would expect the Bugatti Veyron, the world's most expensive car in production, to attract all the swooning, but no, it is the Reventon that brings everyone's pulse to a halt. Inspired by stealth fighters, the Lambo looks like a bat out of hell, and without doubt is the meanest looking car of the year. Too bad, they are making only 20 of them, and all have been asked for, for a staggering 1 million euros each.

Tuesday

First day of the show. I run to the halls where several press conferences are in progress. It isn't easy if you haven't taken up positions in advance. So as Mercedes-Benz launches the F700 concept, I find myself having to dodge two layers of photographers. At the Porsche press conference, it is relatively easy to sneak past. But what is undoubtedly the largest swarm of human heads I've ever seen is at the Ferrari pavilion. Not because Ferrari is launching the F430 Scuderia "" no, it's the presence of a man called Michael Schumacher. This is as close as I've ever gotten to my childhood hero. But there is more. Just as the curtains are pulled off the Audi's A4, surprise, surprise, Bryan Adams is on the stage, crooning Run to you. Beside me are senior officials from our own Maruti Suzuki who are simply amazed at the turn of events. An interesting meeting follows with Fredrik Arp, president & CEO of Volvo Car Corp. He thinks we Indians should lap up more luxury cars, while I say most wealthy Indians are spending far more on property as appreciation brings them dividends. To which he replies, "Let's hope property prices crash soon!"

Wednesday

Begin the morning by meeting Detlef Wittig, the chairman of Skoda who goes about announcing details of Skoda India's plans and the Fabia. The soft-spoken Wittig doesn't hesitate in revealing his plans to us. The brilliance of the Frankfurt Motor Show is that despite its size, hopping from one hall to the other is easy, thanks to the shuttles made available by several manufacturers. So pop your thumb out and a car will take you to wherever you want to go. Hope Delhi's Auto Expo learns from this.

My last meeting is with Ralph Weyler, board member and head of sales and marketing at Audi, as he details Audi India's plans. It is interesting to see how most manufacturers rate India as a market with huge potential. Not just mainstream manufacturers, but even small sportscar manufacturers. Something like this was just not possible a couple of years ago. India certainly seems to be shining.

Also...

I meet a senior official from Quattro, Audi's performance division and ask him why Audi decided to go off rallying in the mid-1980s. Audi, with its innovative Quattro four-wheel drive technology and powerful engines, simply was unstoppable in rallying in those days. To which he quips, "We don't like getting our cars dirty anymore, you see." Uh-huh?