Cars that are ‘Truly Indian’

Since India is celebrating its 70th year of Independence this year, we thought we shall wrap up cars that are truly Indian. Here are the 16 cars.

DC Avanti

Well this one has to be here for the simple fact that it is India’s first sports car. The vehicle was developed by the DC Design team. The reason why the vehicle was conceptualized was because DC felt that there were no affordable sports cars in the market. He also felt that India didn’t need excessively powerful sports cars which were hard to control. He hence opted for a 2.0 liter engine making 248 Bhp and 241 Nm. Since DC is one of the best known in the customization industry, it should come as no shock that the Avanti has loads of colour and trim options.

Reva I

It was in 1998 that Chetan Maini launched the Reva Electric Vehicle Company, a company that was named after his mother. The reason why this car is on the list is because it was one of the first car companies to come up an all electric small car for the Indian market. Development took place in India as well. The car was also exported to other European counties as the G-Wiz.

Tata Indica

The Tata Indica was showcased in 1998. The car was Mr. Ratan Tata’s first passenger car and it made Tata a mainstream player in the passenger car arena. Though he opted for an Italian company to design the exteriors of the car (I.D.E.A.), all the R&D for the car took place in India only. The main plus point of the Indica was that it was small from the outside but massively spacious from the inside. Ratan Tata proudly called the Indica a car that the Indian public could call their own.

Tata Sierra

The Sierra was the vehicle that started Tata’s (that time Telco)’s entry into the passenger car segment. The Sierra was launched in 1991 and was developed and designed in India. The reason why the company didn’t do well in the 1990’s is because they were making cars from scratch. The Sierra was the first of them.

Tata Safari

The reason for the Safari being on this list is because the Safari was India’s first indigenous SUV when it was launched in 1998. When the vehicle was launched, it was way ahead of its time. It was only when the Scorpio came out that the Safari faced a tough challenge and lost out due to pricing.

Tata Tiago

The reason why no other small Tata car is on this list is because the Vista/Bolt/Zest share some things with the Indica. The Tiago on the other hand is an all new product, ground up. It follows Tata’s new design theme, christened IMPACT. Design of the vehicle took place in their Pune facility. The Tiago has been a success for the company and is one of the best compact hatchbacks in the segment today.

Tata Aria

The Aria came with Tata’s first all new UV platform in 20 years. Most of the design and the development for the Aria happened in house, as expected. With the Aria, Tata offered the first 4×4 crossover and a whole host of other features. Though it was more practical and spacious than the Innova, poor brand value made it flop in the market.

Tata Sumo

When it was launched in 1994, the Sumo was a fresh idea. At that time, people were not used to hard top people carriers. The Sumo, which was designed and made from scratch in India was one of the first hard top utility vehicles to be made in India and hence it was so successful initially. It was only when the Qualis came that the Sumo got stiff competition.

Continued below: Cars that are ‘Truly Indian’