From Standard 10 to Porsche 911

AUTOMOBILE

It's been an extraordinary journey on the Indian freeway from the controlled markets of the Ambassador, the Padmini and the Vespa.

You don't need the power of imagination to know how our metroscapes looked 30 years ago. Narrow streets, fewer people, and three brands of cars. And yes, three brands of motorcycles, two brands of scooters, and a couple of brands of utility vehicles.

I can bet the printline of Business Standard that the newspaper's first copy was ferried in a Standard Van complete with a Vanguard-derived diesel powerplant. But then it was printed in Calcutta so it could well have been a modified Ambassador that looked like an estate car.

The cobbled streets of Calcutta have not changed a wee bit, though the machines plying those roads have in a big way. Back then, the Ambassador, derived from the 1968 Morris Oxford, was the king and the Fiat Millicento derived Padmini, er, the queen.

With Calcutta and Bombay building those machines, Madras couldn't have been far behind, right? So, down south, they built the Standard based on the Triumph-Herald. Two four-door sedans, a two-door coupe and, in the Standard 10, India's first car to feature monocoque construction "" brilliant, isn't it?

Not so. The only machine that could have caught my fancy if I were an 18-year-old instead of six years old in 1975, would have been the Vespa. Bajaj had the license agreement with Piaggio going strong and the original Vespa was catching the imagination of the world.

Madras also built two robust motorcycles "" the Royal Enfield, the first four-stroke motorcycle built in India, and the Jawa, derived from the Czech Republic. The former still continues while the latter died a quiet death in the hands of the Indo-Jap two-stroke wave that hit India in the early eighties.

The early eighties also saw a car company being set up in the north "" one that would go on to put a lot of Indians behind the wheel of a car.

But before we get on with the Maruti saga, we should reserve honourable mention to three machines "" among them the Hindustan Contessa and the Standard 2000. The former was HM's idea of bringing in cutting-edge technology (how about a car derived out of the 1972 Vauxhaul Victor!) and the latter a last-ditch attempt by Standard Motors to survive.

The Contessa met with relative success before becoming extinct "" mind you, the Ambassador was still going great guns. The Standard 2000 was the first car in India to feature power-steering, factory-fitted air-conditioning and central locking.

The Rover 3000-derived body aped the pretty Ferrari Daytona and looked smashing on the road. But under the boot lay another Vanguard-derived engine that ensured 5 kpl at best, which of course sounded the death-knell for the 2000.

The third "early eighties" icon was the Rajdoot Yamaha 350. Two cylinders, two carburettors, 30-odd bhp and the reputation of a race winner.

Not many people knew that Escorts, which has been busy building a DKW copy in the ubiquitous 175, was bringing in a product that was being phased out in the US and other developed markets since it couldn't meet emission norms "" what the hell, the RD 350 stirred the imagination of motorcycle-hungry youngsters, though their parents never took to its drinking habits, nor the fact that it could do 100 kph in six seconds. Again, it was too early for its time in India.

Then came two Suzukis that caught the fancy of Indians "" the TVS-Suzuki AX 100 and the Maruti Suzuki 800. Both these machines were more refined, peppier, more economical, maintenance-free and reliable than anything else on Indian roads. The AX 100 soon had company in the form of Escorts Yamaha RX 100, the Hero Honda CD 100 and the Kawasaki Bajaj KB 100. The Indo-Jap revolution blazed across the country.

While the two-stroke machines had to face the axe following stricter emission norms, the Hero Honda CD 100 in the Splendor incarnation is the largest selling "vehicle" in the world today.

As the motorcycle became popular, scooters were left to die a slow death. Meanwhile, the car industry tried to keep pace. Maruti launched its first new model, the Maruti 1000, in 1991, and followed up with the Zen and the Esteem in1993 and 1995 respectively, thereby giving birth to India's first decent hatchback and the first modern 'three-box' sedan.

1995 also saw Mercedes-Benz cars being built in India. Come 1996, we saw a sleek and sexy machine cruise on to our roads "" the DCM Daewoo Cielo was the first car in India to feature fuel injection, air-bags as options, and an automatic transmission.

Soon GM and Ford followed with sedans meant to establish their brands. The Opel Astra and the Ford Escort did reasonably well while the American "big two" established their dealer networks.

In came the French in the form of Peugeot 309, but terrible labour trouble and the French giants' inability to cope with the rigours of a developing market killed the car and the company.

PAL also slept with Fiat in the meantime and the resulting Uno drove itself into the record books with a stunning 1.5 lakh-odd bookings.

Toyota came in with a 15-year-old utility vehicle (the Qualis) and scored over the Indian entrants such as the Tata Sumo and Mahindra Armada. Honda unleashed a sedan that was quick out of the box and still had amazing fuel efficiency. We are now getting to see more new-age products from the Japanese giants these days.

Around 1999, Tata and Hyundai began a B-segment war that still continues. The Tata Indica is still the cheapest and most economical car to run in its segment, while Hyundai is struggling to meet demand for its Santro. In the meanwhile Daewoo, after doing extremely well with its brilliant small car, the Matiz, ended its innings.

Today, the scene has changed dramatically indeed. We have a great deal of machinery to choose from, and the market has at last touched the magic 1 million mark it was supposed to four years ago.

New rules also mean there are exotics such as the Porsche 911s, Maybachs and Bentleys being launched in India. Imported car dealers are doing brisk business with BMWs and Audis flying out of the showroom.

And in case you are wondering, the Hindustan Ambassador is still being built and it does a decent 8,000 units a year, we hear. Some things, like the cobbled streets of Kolkata, won't change.