Is Bangladesh Suitable for Motoring Ensthusiasts?

Is Bangladesh Suitable for Motoring Enthusiasts?

Cars and motorcycles are some of the prime modes of transportation in our country. Buying a car or motorcycle for everyday needs have become a part of the bucket list of most people but, is it worth it? The factors that come into play while judging if our country is a country suitable for motorheads and motoring enthusiasts are many. We need to talk about the prices, roads, systems and facilities altogether. Even though Bangladesh has a healthy community regarding cars and motorbikes, it pales in comparison to the communities and enthusiasts of other countries. What I'll be pointing out are some of the main reasons why I and I'm Sure many other motoring enthusiasts like me think that Bangladesh might not be exactly suitable for motoring enthusiasts "YET".

Lets begin with the most obvious reason, the price. I won't go too far, ill just compare with the neighbouring country India where a motorbike such as the KTM Duke 125 costs around 1.79 lakhs rupees which when converted to BDT will be 2.37 lakhs whereas the same motorcycle costs at around 4.48 lakhs in Bangladesh. The price difference is obvious. This also goes for the price of cars. In Bangladesh undoubtedly the majority of cars are Toyotas which most people choose for their reliability but even those cars are imported, mostly refurbished through dealers. Motoring enthusiasts like me prefer sports cars and fast bikes which are only bought by a handful of people in the country because those are not even officially sold in our country. Most of the sports cars present in bangladesh are imported by giving absurd amount of prices when compared to other countries. This is not only true for sports cars but also most cars that are being sold at dealerships which are just refurbished vehicles from their country of origin. There are only a handful of companies like Hyundai and DFSK which actually produce the cars or atleast, assemble in our country due to which poeple can get them at lower values. But still, most car and motorcycle enthusiasts aren't able to buy what they want and drive their hearts out because of the excessive price of motoring vehicles.

We can move on towards the factor of roads. Recently opened Dhaka Elevated Expressway, The Purbachal Highway and The Dhaka-Mawa HIghway are some of the finest roads in the country but they are just tiny elements that cannot hide the main problems which are traffic jams and bad roads. Bangladesh might be known as a poor country but if you take some time and view a commercially used road from an overbridge, one will never speculate our country as poor just because of the sheer amount of cars that can be seen on the road. "What good is a fast car if you cant even drive it fast enough". Motoring enthusiasts like us do not condone reckless driving in anyway but we would prefer much more roads that we can use properly instead of being stuck at traffic jam for hours. This also means that sports cars or supercars in Bangladesh are basically pointless because we can't drive them how they are supposed to be driven. The amount of poeple that drive cars recklessly or without lisence or by constantly breaking the laws cannot be counted and there aren't many steps taken against them either which generally means that the roads aren't really safe.

There is also a lack of facilities in our country which also leads to the lack of enthusiasm eventually causing the lack of enthusiasts. Bangladesh does not have any racetracks or any form of motorsport and the amount of people that successfully became a racing driver from our country is 1 (Avik Anwar). Most of us motoring enthusiasts became enthusiasts by watching movies like; The Fast and The Furious or Rush or by watching cool cars in cartoons or through videogames. Many of us still dream to buy our dream car that we can take for a long ride and enjoy and for most enthusiasts living in Bangladesh it's just not possible. There is also a lack of OEM and

aftermarket parts for vehicles in bangladesh for which, car maintenance and fixing are also matters that require huge amounts of money. Good mechanics are also rare now-a-days and if it comes to the matter of rare cars which are imported, there is only a handful. Also, When it comes to cars that are originally made in Bangladesh, the number is quite literally ZERO. So it is safe to assume that Bangladesh isn't really a place where car or bike enthusiasts can thrive unless they are extremely rich and even then there isn't much facilities for us. Bangladesh is still a long way from being an automotive utopia like Japan, Italy or Germany but we can certainly hope that like all, our time will also come when the motoring enthusiasts will thrive in the our Beautiful country.