Known and unknown

INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL/ MOTORING

Where there's a Willys
Mahindra jeeps evolved from a single platform for decades until the mid-90s. Using a 1956 Willys platform, Mahindra extended it from 80 inches with the CJ3B to 105 inches by the time the Armada hit showrooms in the last decade of the 20th century. The genes can still be seen in the Bolero.

Best of lakh
The largest selling car in India of all time has been the Maruti 800, and it was the quickest to reach the 1,00,000-units sales figure, managing it in 39 months. But the Tata Sumo, launched in late 1994, beat the 800's record by one month. The Hyundai Santro broke the Sumo's record, but the reigning champion is the Maruti Suzuki Swift, which took 20 months to reach the 1,00,000 sales figure.

Flog machines
The Ambassador 1500cc overhead valve and the Padmini 1100cc engines were around for 36 and 33 years, respectively. Hindustan Motors (HM)ran the engine beginning with the Ambassador Mark I till emission norms killed it. For a brief period, HM also fitted the engine in the Contessa. Premier's 1100cc engine met with its end in 1997 when Premier shut shop after its Fiat and Peugeot debacle. Incidentally, HM is celebrating 2007 as the 50th year of the Ambassador.

Many Splendored thing
In the current financial year, if a working day were 24 hours, Hero Honda would have sold two Splendors a minute! But that's not all. The Splendor also happens to be the largest-selling single motorcycle of all time, with cumulative sales, beginning 1994, of 8.41 million.

Foreign bodies
Until 1953, the government of India had allowed assembly of cars by manufacturers, even if they did not have a manufacturing programme. In 1952, the government restricted the import of completely built units and set up a Tariff Commission that suggested that assemblers be shown the door. General Motors and Ford were two of the victims who packed their bags and went away, only to make a return four decades later.

Price catch
When the HM Ambassador Mark I rolled out in 1957, the price of the car was Rs 17,000. The equivalent Ambassador Avigo today costs Rs 4.47 lakh, a whopping 2,629 per cent increase over 50 years.

Starting trouble
Telco (now Tata Motors) nearly got Honda into India! In the late eighties, the Tatas were extremely interested in getting the Accord sedan to our shores. The government, though, had other plans, and a decade later, Honda tied up with Shriram Industries in a venture christened Honda Siel. In 2001, Tata would try once again with Peugeot to build yet another luxury sedan "� a year later the project went into cold storage. It wasn't until 2005 that Tata would finally find a stable joint-venture partner in Fiat.

Standard fare
In 1955, Standard 10 was the first monocoque automobile to be launched in India. And in 1985, came the advanced Standard 2000, based on the Pininfarina-designed Rover SD1 and featuring creature comforts like power steering, power windows, airconditioning and more. But it also came with a ponderous four-cylinder petrol motor that was developed from the Vanguard diesel engine borrowed from the Standard 20 van.