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-   -   Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/150042-fun-interesting-trivia-indian-car-scene-16.html)

A picture taken sometime after the factory was demolished, but still unsold. This was the only board we found that showed that's where the factory was.
The security was trying to shoo us off, so made him pose as well.

Karnataka 1000 rally - 1980. Particularly adverse weather. Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo crashes out, all the modded Fiats get bogged down. Rally is own by a Dolphin! If it got stuck, it was easy to lift and shift

The Chevrolet Aveo (1.6 LT) was probably the first C segment car to have a demister/defogger in the ORVM's.

The Hyundai Accent, the Hyundai I10, the Ford Fiesta are few models I know of, that are being sold with two generations alongside each other.

Hyundai Verna (India) is essentially a successor of future generations of Hyundai Accent in the international markets; similar is the case with the Hyundai I10 and Hyundai Grand I10.
Ford purposely sells fiesta classic and new fiesta together.

As a matter of fact Ford once sold three generations together. Going to the roots of it, even the Ford Ikon is a derivative of the Fiesta (international) model.
They used to retail the Ikon, Fiesta classic and the new fiesta together.

You simply cannot beat the masters - Maruti Suzuki :D
The Suzuki Alto, which has seen a single evolution line in Japan, Maruti has sold it with different names & brands as:

1. Maruti 800 - from SS80 to one which was discontinued recently.

2. Maruti Alto

3. Maruti Alto 800 (which replaced the Maruti 800)

4. Maruti A-Star

5. Maruti Alto-K10

6. In fact, the Sixth generation Suzuki Alto has an uncanny resemblance to our own Swift!

All the above cars were evolved by Suzuki as a single product line in Japan. Beat that:D

Edit: Maruti Zen, though marketed in Europe as Suzuki Alto, was actually the Suzuki Cervo in home country; hence not a Suzuki Alto evolution.

Hamara Bajaj Tumhara Vespa

Bajaj Chetak was the Indian Avatar of Italian Scooter Vespa.
Bajaj made this scooter under technology collaboration with Piaggio, the makers of Vespa.

Today's Piaggio India (Vespa) is their third successful attempt to establish itself in Indian Market.

After Bajaj, Piaggio had another joint venture with LML, which lasted till late nineties.

Nope. The Alto 800, Alto K10 were never sold in Japan. The Alto in Japan is a modified A-Star which is higher.

Although some of them are/were sold as different generations in other countries.

EDIT: The Alto 800, K10 are too outdated/cheap to be sold in Japan. Also, they will in no way clear the stricter Japanese crash test norms.

Evolution of the export Altos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Alto#Export_markets

I may add that the Renault K9K has powered some Merc A class in the 110 bhp state of tune. Don't think the A class in India was sold with the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_K-Type_engine

In early 90's there was a pit stop almost halfway through Thamarassery ghats (NH 212 / Wayanad - Calicut), apart from couple of tea stalls the main 'attraction' there was a small stream. Water from the stream was funneled through a bamboo to help people collect in water bottles to fill car radiators. This used to be a must stop for most of the vehicles. Nowday's the place is mostly empty sans trucks who parked over to get a windshield wash. What is more interesting is the ghats section is only around 14Kms or so, cars nowadays take it without breaking in to sweat.

Remember explaining features of Daewoo Ceilo when it was launched to the chauffeur. Told about power windows and central locking to him, only to be ridiculed that it will only be available in foreign cars and not in Indian manufactured ones.

Don't know if you know/ knew Niaz Ali. He used to wax eloquent about the Dolphin as a rally car!

Regards
Sutripta

A cousin of mine waxes nostalgic about doing 80 km/h on Mount Road, Madras, in a Dolphin (her first car) in the 80s.

Eventually, though, service and (perceived) reliability are more important in the market and that's where Maruti won.

There is so much - dont know where to start! Let's do it with Amby's

1. Sometime in the 70’s Hindustan Motors came out with an option for a higher bhp engined ambassador (about 5 bhp more!). It was a limited run, and my dad had booked one but cancelled it as there were rumours of the engine having excessive oil consumption. Needless to add, HM subsequently discontinued the model.

2. There was a period in the 70’s when the owners handbook of the Ambassador started with the words “Sleevings will be done in 1 & 3 cylinders or in all 4 cylinders. This was post to HM being slapped with a legal suit when a customer opened his engine and found sleeves in his new engine. After the suit, HM mentioned this in the owners handbook.

3. The reason for the sleevings were the old dyes which were just not upto the mark of making proper engine blocks and also the machining tools available with them weren’t upto the task.

4. There was also a time when all Ambassadors would need an engine job within a few months of buying them. So you bought the car knowing that you would have an engine job. Outrageous indeed!! :Shockked:

Not sue whether to post it here or to start a new thread. If mods feel a new thread is necessary, please move it. Thanks.

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You would have heard about Bullet Fans, Fanatics or even thieves who target only bullet. But here a village where people worship bullet as a deity :D. It is a village near Jodhpur in Rajastan. Below are the links which will give more details. The link for the Tamil site contains more snaps than the English site.

English - http://www.nativeplanet.com/travel-g...ed-000337.html
Tamil - http://tamil.oneindia.in/news/india/...al-199827.html

There one interesting fact from my side. This is an excerpt from the book
The Creation of Wealth: The Tatas from 19th to 21st century.

This question becomes even more important when we consider this thread.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...t-zest-43.html

Where there are doubts on the quality and the ability of the Tata Cars to compete in the market are raised.

Interesting, but just one of many examples of how Indian industry was held back by the licence raj (and in some ways continues to be). Tata were also ready to manufacture the Honda Accord in the 1980s -- it was even advertised in the paper -- but the government thwarted it.

But before shedding too many tears for Tata, we should note, as a colleague of mine once pointed out to me in great detail, that the licence permit raj was instituted in the 1950s on the recommendations of precisely the same giants of industry at that time -- JRD Tata, GD Birla, Sri Ram, and others. In particular, these industrialists had written a document, nowadays called the "Bombay Plan", in 1945 calling for a controlled economy and protection from competition (and though the Tatas may have been thwarted in a few things, they certainly benefited from the lack of competition in most areas). Wiki here. An old Business Line article by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, outlining the motivations of the industrialists as well as how it resulted in a "mixed-up economy" rather than a "mixed economy", here.