1 Cool Websites on Indian Automobiles: Motoroids and Zigwheels

Two websites of note dedicated to Indian Automobiles..

The advent of the internet has drastically altered many aspects of our life.. and in the process disrupted many established business models as well.

For example: Thanks to the internet and easy availability of songs in the MP3 format, even an avid music buff like me haven't bothered to buy a single Music CD in probably the last 4-5 years..!! I know, that this might slowly kill the Music Industry.. and probably that is what is eventually happening. Can you name the popular music album or music video (forget the Bollywood stuff) doing the rounds these days?

Even MTV now proudly declares that it’s more of a reality show channel rather than a music channel. Gone are the days when the VJ’s used to play your requests (it sounds funny right? Why on earth would one call up just to watch a music video?)

Change is inevitable and its not survival of the fittest, but how fast one adapts to the changing environment that determines survival. There was once a time when I used to buy my favorite auto magazines every month without fail. I still do buy a couple of magazines occassionally, but I have to admit that the frequency has come down quite a bit. Is it because of the easily available information about bikes on the internet?

Internet Vs. Auto Publications

Why the auto related sites on the internet score over Traditional Auto Publications?

• You don’t have to wait for a month


• You can choose what you want to read


• You don’t have to pay


• You can take part in conversations
(via comments on Forums, blogs, social networking sites)

But there are also a few limitations associated with these Free Online Resources Vs. Established Publications.

There is no guarantee of authenticity on the information floating around on these sites and also most of the sites are hosted/maintained by "guys next door" like me and therefore they don’t enjoy enough credibility to be taken seriously.


Two Indian auto related sites with quality content


Motoroids.Com

This site is just 7-8 months old but according to me it has a great promise of making it big as a reputed site. Motoroids gets its credibility from the fact that one of the founding members of the site is Amit Changani, ex-Bike India journalist.

The USP of Motoroids.com is a monthly e-mag which can be downloaded for free in PDF format.

The articles are good, photographs are good and even the layout of the PDF e-mag is good.

But I think that the layout and design of the website is a bit amateurish and there is a definite scope for improvement here.

So far Motoroids.Com isn’t been backed by any big sponsor. Hope Motoroids makes it big. Just pay a visit to Motoroids.Com, it’s a promising site.





Zigwheels.Com

Zigwheels is backed by the Times group, a big media conglomerate. The Zigwheels site has been in existence since mid 2008. Apart from the site, Zigwheels also comes as a weekly supplement along with the Times of India news paper in a few major cities of India. Zigwheels also has a weekly TV progam on Times TV.

Zigwheels Tabloid: 1st Issue

If that was not enough, Zigwheels have recently started coming in the form of a monthly tabloid. The other day I happened to pick up a few issues of it. The paper quality is glossy and is among the best found on Indian lifestyle magazines. But the most amazing part of this tabloid is that it is priced at an amazing 10 Rs!!!

The Chief Editor of Zigwheels is Mr. Adil Jal Darukhanawala who is a celebrity among auto journalists of the country.

Prior to Zigwheels, Mr. Adil was also the chief Editor of Overdrive and Bike India magazines.

Visit the Zigwheels website..











Maybe the internet might not replace Auto magazines in the same way the music industry has been hit. The print medium is not totally possible to replace. After all people still read books and newspapers don't they?

But with changing times, internet ventures like Motoroids and Zigwheels are definitely welcome.



Some Indian Auto Magazines that I read:

• Autocar India



• Overdrive



• Bike India



• BS Motoroing

Disclaimer:

This is to remind that the Views or Opinions in the blog are entirely mine unless explicitly stated. The Views and Opinions published in this blog should in no way be related to any other person or organization associated -- directly or indirectly -- with me.