Automobile Magazines in Malayalam

It's a new and growing category in Malayalam publishing - print publications for automotive industry. Presently, there are three titles and all of them are doing good, mainly due to the recent growth in the automobile industry - both in sales figures and new launches; and changing lifestyle patterns of the urban youth craving for newer status symbols with their increasing disposable incomes.

All these three magazines are in line with the paradigm shift fast happening across the country - that money making and showing off are not sins anymore. It's not just about the content but is also evident in their forms. The trendy designs and higher production standards are the new names of the game. In place of cheap newsprint and b&w printing which is still in convention with some other categories, these auto magazines do have modern, world class designs and are printed on full glaze with snazzy images - things which are hitherto unheard of in the otherwise crowded Malayalam magazines' jungle.

The names themselves - Top Gear, Overtake and Manorama group's Fast Track - carry more than just the industry flavor. It's all about positioning and pace. Period. Content is predictable but all these three magazines serve it in lucid prose. The style of language, design, photographs, production standards - all these factors jointly shatters the myth that there is no scope for such modern niche magazines in Malayalam, as most of the Malayalees are comfortable reading such stuff in English and there is a lot available on the stands as well.

While the the so called DJ's of Malayalam's multiplying satellite TV channels are making a mockery of the already weak and non-evolutionary language, these good looking periodicals are giving it a breather. Kudos!

As India's is getting integrated to the global auto market faster than expected with increasing style and value on her roads and Kerala's parvenu on the rise, it's good ride ahead for these young drivers.

Overtake's fully functional website is here. Presently, Top Gear's website is not working. :-(. So here is their Facebook link. And surprisingly as usual, Manorama group has not taken the online seriously.