Five cars that changed the face of Indian motoring

Tata Nano

 

First on the list is obviously the Nano with a dream to move a billion masses. A brainchild of the legendary Ratan Tata, it was meant to do what the Model T did for America and open up the world of commuting on four-wheels to a vast section of the population. 

Life for the little wide-eyed small car began in a turbulent way, when its initial factory premises at Singur in West Bengal came under siege. All work came to a halt for close to a year as Tata and farmers fought over the premises. Ultimately, Tata took the idea of the Nano to the welcoming arms of Gujarat and set up a factory at Sanad where production began at the end of 2007. Launched in 2008, the numbers began to show almost instantaneously as it opened many avenues for many families who were otherwise restricted by the lack of ‘comfortable’ personal transport.

It had great potential to be successful across the world and intrigued everyone for the simple reason that no one said that it could be done- a car with all the basic functions that costs less than USD 2,500 (the exchange rate in August 2008 was Rs 42.5 to one dollar so the base price of just over Rs 1 lakh).

Tata did not find too many takers for this tiny city car, but that is not its fault.  The thing is Tata made a mistake by marketing it as the world’s ‘cheapest’ car, a tag that didn’t do the Nano any favour. Of course excessive cost cutting and the flaming incidents didn’t help it much either, but that does not change the fact that the Nano made the world sit up and take notice of the Indian automotive industry.

Hindustan Ambassador

Icons are hard to forget and more so when they have played an integral part in the country’s visible history and by visible what we mean to say is that they have stayed in the limelight for generations. None is more famous than the iconic Hindustan Ambassador.

Brought into India in the early 50s as the Hindustan Landmaster, it became a symbol of the Indian government and a mode of transport for babus, minsters and IAS officers across various districts of the country. During the late 80s and early 1990s it became a taxi transporting liberalised India all over its (still) developing roads.

Spacious, luxurious if trimmed the right way and incredibly comfortable the Ambassador is still sold in West Bengal as a public taxi and functional across India even though emission norms mean that not a single new unit has been sold outside WB for few years. Taxi it may have become for a common man with yellow and black, but the Ambassador holds its charm and in fact may rejuvenate it this year with some modern technology yet classic appeal.  

Images: Team-bhp

 

Jaguar XF

Let us begin by saying that while this is strictly not an Indian car, it is something that can make us proud. It was the first car to be launched by the luxury car maker after it was acquired by the Tata group in 2008. The car was first shown as the C-XF concept car in early 2007. It was a complete departure from the Jag design philosophy used until that point and turned out to be a major success with the motoring audience. It was launched in 2008 and is still a massive success for the leaping cat thanks to its bold yet ‘subtle in an English way ‘design philosophy.

The car has spawned a number of variants, each with an additional alphabet (XFR / XFR-S) in a bid to show you that the more you have to say, the faster your car will go! Though it must be noted that none of the other XF models are slouches when it comes to performance or looks – even if we talking about the meagre 2.2-litre oil-burner.

When Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008, it was valued at just 2.2 billion (US) Dollars, while the charm of the Land Rover SUVs had not failed the Jaguar was consistently making losses for few years eating into already depleted balance sheet of 2008. Today (August 2013) after just seven years , it is one of the most profitable of companies under the Tata banner and is currently valued at 16 billion dollars with a complete turnaround for the Leaping Cat. The XF is important in this light as it began the change process for the Indo-British luxury car maker.  

Now, we must ask a question- Will this kind of design language rub off onto the Tata cars in the future? We can only hope so, because if that does happen, then we will haves some fabulous looking affordable cars running around on our roads.                        

Force India Formula One Team

 

We have never been known as a nation to take well to motorsports and this is quite evident from the fact that we have only three major racing facilities with only one of them being F1 ready. Now before you jump on me and point to numerous black and white pictures of Vijay Mallya, S Karivardhan and Vicky Chandok racing their cars around Sholavaram and eventually Irungatukottai, let me be clear that racing at that time was all about the enthusiasts and has always been so.

Well that’s what we all thought until late 2007, when Vijay Mallya surprised us all by buying the Spyker F1 team and renaming it as the Force India F1. The team is a direct descendant of the Jordan F1 team from the 1990s; based out of the same facility opposite the Silverstone Circuit with pretty much the same staff since the beginning. It has managed three podiums since its inception and this year seems to be one of the best in terms of points.

In late 2011, Vijay Mallya sold 42.5 per cent of the team to the Sahara family thus giving it an even greater Indian flavour.  What is interesting is the fact that Force India’s cars since 2009 have used the Indian Tri-colour as teams colours, creating a sense of patriotism among the Indian fans. But in reality that’s about as far as nationalism goes. It is believed that the team has very few Indian personnel and has never had an Indian driver till date. Let’s hope that one of our men and women (from our one billion strong populations) step up and strap down in the future.    

Whether it’s the lack of Indians in an Indian team or that it’s based out of Europe, we don’t care because unlike many other teams or nations we have both our name and the flag prominently displayed, although the latter is generally just a blur of orange, white and green during the races.

The Jayaram GT

 

The fact is hardly anyone knows about the Jayaram GT and it certainly did not put us on the world map. But if we had to talk about just one car, then this one-of-a kind masterpiece beats its competition on ingenuity, originality and also for being a through Indian-breed.

Usually the word GT is preceded by the words Ferrari or Aston Martin and nowadays even BMW. But when we say the words Jayaram GT, it is expected to raise quite a few eyebrows. Before I go on to describe one of the greatest creations in the history of modern Indian motoring, let me paint a picture of the background in which the car was created.

It’s the late 1960s, Banglore is a green paradise abundant with tree-lined roads and strong gusts of cool air. The roads are dusty but largely empty save for the public transport as well as the usual sprinkling of Ambassadors, Premier Padminis as well a range of imported American and European cars.

AD Jayaram, a motoring enthusiast and future Indian motorsport legend, takes a look at the cars around him and shakes his head in dismay when realises that none will match his standards. He got to work in his garage over the next few years with various members of his family lending hand at different times and in different stages. Finally in 1973, the car was ready to hit the road. But like all perfectionists, AD never saw 100 per cent and continued to work on the car long after in a bid to slowly improve it.

Dubbed the Jayaram GT, it is a one-of-a-kind purple two-door coupe made in India by an Indian to be driven on the Indian roads. From the outside it looks like a classic Jaguar and has all the prominent lines to indicate its GT nature. The attention to detail is phenomenal right from 17 coats of paint to achieve that perfect colour to the multiple gauges to indicate almost anything that the driver would need.

The car is powered by a 1.4-litre petrol mill that churns out 143PS. It began life with a 1.0-litre engine which was eventually switched for the 1.4-litre engine. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via an eight-speed gearbox which was amazingly controlled electronically (in 1973!). The driver changes gears using a small switch located on the right of the steering.

As we said before, it is unique and is not expected to leave the family in any way possible even though the fact is that it will be worth few crores. We can also consider that AD’s son Bobby was the man behind the first Reva and an equally crazy petrol head. Much like how we value paintings and classic furniture, the Jayaram GT will also remain a priceless heirloom and something that we can be proud of when we think of milestones in Indian motoring. 

Images: BS Motoring