DELHI — Anyone wishing to escape the human crush of India’s teeming capital to visit the marble splendour of the Taj Mahal can travel by train in just two painless hours. Alternatively, they can struggle to negotiate the crowded single-lane road that heads south to the city of Agra in a journey that can take up five hours. But if India’s roads seem cluttered and inadequate, things are set to get much worse. Over the coming months, a series of car manufacturers are set to unveil new models aimed at India’s burgeoning middle class. Remarkably, some of the new cars designed to entice the wallets of India’s newly wealthy consumers will be priced as cheaply as $3,000 (£1,500). One model, due to be available as early as next year, has been dubbed the ‘People’s Car’. This explosion of new affordable vehicles is poised to have a number of dramatic effects on the country – most visibly adding further traffic to roads that are often filled with rickshaws, bicycles, people and animals. Yet while consumer demand for such vehicles is high, there are also considerable concerns about the environmental impact these countless thousands of new cars will have, […]