Customised Craft DC Minute - Minute Mantra

This is the story of a Suzuki Swift, swiftly desptached from a four-door hot hatch to a mini-SUV-esque citycar by DC Design.

Story: Adil Jal Darukhanawala Photography Kunal Khadse

Hey whats with this funky orange and black chop job we have here? And while we are at it, this snub-nosed mini-bullet thriller seems to be headed down the poseurs boulevard. What gives and why is this so important to be in CAR INDIA and that too on the cover of the mag?

Well this is based on the made-in-Bharat by MUL Suzuki Swift, yes our very own hot hatch yet hooked on to the success wagon like no other car in recent history. Being funky enough on its own accord and mighty effective that, it is going well down the customisers' roads as the one to wield the craft on. From mere paint and sticker jobs to smaller accents like slightly pronounced wheel arches to full flared whale tail conversions, the Suzuki Swift is the perfect canvas for the metal benders to ply their craft.

But this is DC Design we are talking about, purveyors of the car custom cult and style gurus who have been busy these last few years trying to make their mark in the burgeoning but cut-throat international prototype car construction melee. And what better calling card can an Indian firm have in its bid to front up on manufacturers' radars than by churning out one concept after another?

This was the moot point behind the Minute citycar you see here. Said Dilip Chhabria on his latest handiwork: "In our business the designer is measured by the way he takes an established and very successful design and builds something on and over it. This was our starting point for the Minute and the key aspect we built into it was one where it evoked shock and aggression."Dilip's reputation has been built on evolving new style sheet metal on existing platforms cutting across all OEMs - just like any Italian carrozeria worth its salt is want to do - and this doesn't just mean reclothing but evolving all new models which strike out pretty differently from the donor base. This holds firm for the Minute as well for apart from the mechanicals and the underpinnings of the base Suzuki Swift you can go and buy in an MUL showroom, it is overall a radical concept far removed from the imagination.

"IN OUR BUSINESS THE DESIGNER IS MEASURED BY THE WAY HE TAKES AN ESTABLISHED AND VERY SUCCESSFUL DESIGN AND BUILDS SOMETHING ON AND OVER IT."

Built for a client who wanted to gift it to his 13-year old daughter for doing well in some creative pursuit, the overall intent was to do a citycar, one that could be easy to manoeuvre in tight spaces, nip and dart like a bicycle and yet cause many to stop dead in their tracks. Out went 485mm of midriff from the base Swift, replete with two doors and in came a monovolume front end with the tallish cabin stance and the chopped up truck-look to hint at a mini-SUV.

The Minute looks best in either its front or rear three-quarter angle, as caught low down by our ace shutterbug Kunal Khadse. The wheelbase to track ratio seems almost at par but better than the Smart!

Clever surfacing and great colour interplay highlights accents and curves and makes a lily out of a sow.

Interior was kept in standard stock trim, DC having no time to do anything here given the deadline set by the client. Nevertheless standardisation here is already of a very high contemporary order. Totally goes against DC's grain of "if it ain't broken, fix it."

Rear end treatment is highlighted by the innovative use of a wide LED tail lamp cluster which works brakes, turn signals and also the parking and reverse lamps.

The straight head-on view is the only one which doesn't appeal as much as the rest, but does one get a hint of the lead locomotive from the Japanese Railways' Shinkansen bullet train?

The original windscreen rake is retained but cleverly shrouded by the raised bonnet line with the xenon projector type headlamps running right on the fender sills. "We knew we had to make a move towards positioning the headlamps higher because that is where production car design would go to in another four to five years time," stated Dilip, obviously trying to push the envelope.

The wide expanse of the bonnet combined with the curvy and just as expansive front wrap around bumper will take some getting used, especially when viewed head-on but try and angle your gaze and the minute shows up great detailing and very pleasing lines. The crease on the sculpted side flanks and the slightly stylised wheel arches play their role but far more effective is the clever colour interplay resorted to which with the super surfacing really makes the Minute standout. In fact it is the way the black-coloured chunky rear end has been made to ride piggyback on the orange hued main superstructure that sets the Minute apart in its colour co-ordinates.

Notable is the rear end treatment which seemed to hint at a solid slab and nothing else. Dilip however said that he had to resort to large excessive cutouts in the rear bumper to give it that character and reduce the block-like mass. In came a full width LED lamp cluster which is truly to be marvelled at in the late evenings.

The Minute is a cheeky lil' brute which holds a great deal of promise. Getting the stance right on a miniaturised package is key to the proportions and DC Design has over the years perfected this aspect of the game immeasurably well. With large 205/60 R16 tyres shod on five-spoke alloys, the overall package looks perfect though dynamically there is a bit of work to be done to get it to ride better.

At the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki displayed the quaint LC two-seater with retro overtones. If the LC looked perfect for Japan, the DC Minute could be just the ticket for Europe. Suzuki r u game?

Source: Car India June 2006.