[amit_2025]

There have been sweeping changes in the Indian Automotive scene over the last decade.

Over the years there have been consistent "Game Changers" or evolution's that have changed the way India drives.

The Mahindra XUV5OO being the most recent (as far as the initial response suggests)

What according to you are the most important Landmarks that you recall immediately?

Cars or events that set benchmarks and challenged the others to improve?

Some that come to my mind from the post Maruti 800 launch stage are (segment wise):

1) First Gen Maruti Zen
2) Hyundai Santro
2) Maruti Swift
4) Hyundai i-20
5) Old Honda City
6) Toyota Innova
7) Honda Civic
8) Toyota Fortuner
9) Skoda Superb

Would have probably included the Nano on perception and objective, but has it really proved to be a Game Changer yet?

[swiftnfurious]

I guess even Toyota Qualis, Hyundai Verna Fluidic & Ford Figo can be added to this if you go by the stir it created in the Indian market. Out of it I am still doubtful whether Figo is holding up to the success it initially had.

[hvs]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I guess even Toyota Qualis, Hyundai Verna Fluidic & Ford Figo can be added to this if you go by the stir it created in the Indian market. Out of it I am still doubtful whether Figo is holding up to the success it initially had.

You are right. The initial frenzy Figo generated has slowly faded away and it looks very dated and poor now.

[da_lowrider]

One of the biggest most important game changers has to be the Indica, it made diesel popular in smaller cars and at the time it was first launched really made Maruti rethink pricing, and maybe it can claim to be responsible for Maruti actually taking diesel engines seriously. Also it marked the first major step for indigenous engineering, which has already played a major role in the Indian auto Industry and seems to be expanding it's sphere of influence even further. (..and before people throw the I.D.E.A. connection in my face, I do acknowledge the fact that the Indica wasn't designed in India but the rest of the platform was ekdum pukka homegrown, French engine influences notwithstanding)

Another major game changer without a doubt has been the Sumo, and I mean circa 1994 that is pre Bolero and Qualis, at the time it was considered extremely refined and comfortable when compared with the competition which was the Armada and the Trax.

Oh, and also the 1000/Esteem for the time they were launched they were modern VFM sedans when compared to the Astras and Escorts of the world, the Esteem has created the segment that today houses cars like the Dezire/Etios/Manza.

[Shome]

Going by the current trend, the latest Game changer will be the Mahindra XUV5OO. An SUV in the price bracket it is being sold in the probably the best thing for the Indian car market. But it is too early to tell I guess.

How about Hamara Bajaj?

[_raVan_]

In the two-wheelers, I believe Pulsar was a game-changer. Then came along Ninja 250 and Yamaha R15 (debatable?), which opened the market for premium sports bikes.

[chandras1]

Scorpio, imho, was the game changer in the SUV market

[hvs]

Maruti 800 the greatest game changer ever...!
Changed the way India understood a car.

[libranof1987]

Well, Alto 800cc was a huge game-settler for Maruti, if not game-changer. Alto ensured Maruti still held on to their supremacy in the entry-level hatch segment, esp. after the exit of M800 from tier-1 cities.

I think i10 was a game-changer too; it got Hyundai customers for the slightly-more-than-basic segment; something Wagon-R had established itself for.

The taxi market was mostly dominated by Indigo Marinas. Didn't Logans steal away it's thunder rather royally!

I think Eon and XUV500 have greate potential to do wonders.

[Superleggera]

Hyundai Accent CRDi. The first CRDi motor in that segment,which unleashed the possiblity of CRDi motors in India.

[mayankk]

Someone caught me out on it, but in my sensibilities, it was the pulsar twins.
Game changer for some, game killer for still others(geared scooters??).

other than that, the tata, to some extent,
not the nano, which was killed by its own expectations, but the indica/go.
product and timing(taxi cab boom)

[hvs]

In bikes, it was Jawa 1st, then after few worthy successors like yezdi & rajdoot, came Hero Honda CD100. Not to forget the vrooom machine I loved so much... The Yamaha RX100

[rohan_iitr]

If we are discussing 2 wheelers as well, I can recall 3 game changers:

1. Kinetic Honda - a powerful and stylish gearless scooter, with button start. Much ahead of its times.

2. Yamaha Rx100 - powerful, stylish and reliable. Enthusiasts are still crazy about RX bikes.

3. Hero Honda CD100 - perhaps the first 4-stroke bike in India, which promised and delivered a FE almost twice as much as 2-stroke bikes.

Rohan

[Cooltronics]

Originally Posted by hvs

In bikes, it was Jawa 1st, then after few worthy successors like yezdi & rajdoot, came Hero Honda CD100. Not to forget the vrooom machine I loved so much... The Yamaha RX100

No other bike has been loved as much as RX100, one name which I can further recollect is Suzuki Shogun
Kinetic Honda was a game changer in gear-less scooter market until it was toppled over by Honda Activa.

[ananth_iy]

The Nano absolutely.

It may not have sold numbers, but fundamentally it challenged the price at which a commercial car can be put on the road. I think it is solely because of the Nano that we are seeing the multiple cars at the bottom end of the chain. They may not be as cheap as the Nano promised to be, or even at the price point where the Nano finally settled, but it has definitely brought down prices by a good 25% (my personal view).