Cars that wrote the Indian Automobile history- Happy new year 2011

1.  Sipani Motors:  During the early 1990s, a deal was struck with Bangalore-based Sipani Automobiles, whereby saloons and estates would be exported in SKD form (semi knocked down) to be assembled in India and sold through the Sipani subsidiary, Dolphin Motors Ltd. These cars were all built in Cowley during 1994 and were complete, save for a few locally-produced components, such as batteries and air conditioning. When the Montego went on sale in India, it was subject to higher duties putting the high price into perspective, the Montego cost ten times the price of the basic Maruti and seven times that of the Hindustan Ambassador.

Sipani decided that in order to counter their own bad name, they would market the car as the "Rover Montego". The Rover Montego nevertheless found its place at the premium end of the Indian market, where it sat comfortably above the workaday cars from Maruti, Hindustan and Premier, with a suitably hefty price tag. The newly liberalized market meant that the Montego faced stiffer opposition than Sipani would ever have anticipated, and despite great promise it never took off: in its first full year, just 236 Rover Montegos were sold, in both body styles, and its appeal rapidly faded. A total of 500 Montegos (approximately split 50/50 saloons to estates - all Clubman diesels) were shipped to India during 1994 and 1995, and the last 51 units were sold in 1998.

Cars sold by Sipani

Sipani Dolphin
Sipani Montana
Rover Montego

2. Standard Motors : The Standard is an India brand of automobile which was produced by Standard Motor Products in Madras from 1949 to 1988. Indian Standards were variations of vehicles made in the U.K. by Standard- Triumph. After being formed in 1947, their first product was the Vanguard, which began to be assembled in 1949. From 1955, versions of the Standard Eight and Ten were produced, with ever increasing local content.

The Standard Gazel replaced the Herald in 1971. In 1971 the Herald was remodelled (bodily) by Nasir Hussein as the Standard Gazel, with low horizontal rectangular tail-lights and a new frontal design with a different grille and headlights set far apart, purportedly inspired from the Triumph Herald 13/60. Its new, more sober rear end lacked the characteristic tailfins of the Herald. This car turned out to be one of the few short-lived and less-known cars of the Indian motoring Industry. Production of this car stopped after 1977, following which Standard Motors never produced cars again for the next few years until the Standard 2000.

The Standard Herald was made in CKD form in the 60's by Standard Motors, Madras, as a 2 door MK1 and MK2, and later as an indigenous 4-door MK3, which was considered more suitable for Indian families. From 1985 to 1988 the company manufactured the Standard 2000. The 2000 featured higher ground clearance for the Indian market; but low quality, high price, and low performance combined to end the car after only about three years. To top it all, a supposedly false claim about the fuel average of the car attributed to the company from the then Government caused an inquiry and resulted in the company getting into long-winding legal tangles, eventually leading to the factory being shut down for many years until the property was auctioned off and thereafter completely torn down.

Cars manufactured by Standard Motors
Standard Herald
Standard Gazel
Standard 2000

3. Premier Automobiles:  Premier Ltd. (formerly The Premier Automobiles Limited) is a manufacturer of vehicles based in Mumbai, India. Founded in 1944, the car first launched production by building vehicles under license from Dodge and Plymouth. In 1951, they began producing versions of the Fiat 500 for the Indian market. This was followed by the Fiat 1100 in 1954While many do not know, Fiat 500 currently on sale today was the first fiat to have actually been made available on sale in 1944.

 In 1973, the Premier name was used on their vehicles for the first time, the Premier President, based on the Fiat 1100 as Premier Padmini. In 1978, they launched the Fiat 124- based Premier 118 and 138D models. In 2000, they launched production, under license from Taiwan's China Motor Corporation, of the Premier Sigma and Roadster vans and pick-ups which are still in production.

With market liberalisation Premier tied up with Peugeot to build the Peugeot 309 in India. Initial demand was high but labour problems and poor dealer service led to problems which were compounded when Premier also tied up with old partners Fiat to manufacture the Fiat Uno. Peugeot pulled out of the venture around 2001 with only a few thousand cars sold. Labour and service issues also plagued the Fiat venture and a massive strike finally caused the plant to shut around 2001 with Fiat left to fend for itself with its reputation marred. Not only Fiat, but also the Premier Automobiles Ltd., faced severe criticism in media.

There were various criminal cases against its promoters. The Consumer Courts of India were flooded with complaints for non-refund of the car booking. The Promoters of Premier Automobiles have also been confronted with Criminal cases in various consumer courts of India under section 27 of Consumer Protection Act. A customer Association based at Gujarat - Rajkot called Pal Car Customer Association has made various representations against the Premier Automobiles Ltd. CNBC channel also aired an interview under the crime story program called "UNCOVERED".

Premier Automobiles cars
Dodge Kingsway
Plymout Savoy
Plymouth Belvedere
500
1100
PAL Padmini
PAL 118NE
Fiat Uno
Peugeot 309

4. Hindustan Motors : Hindustan Motors is an automobile manufacturer from India. It is part of the Birla Technical Services industrial group. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog. It is the producer of the Ambassador car, widely used as a taxicab and as a government limousine. This car is based on the Morris Oxford, a British car that dates back to 1954.

One of the original three car manufacturers in India, founded in 1942 by Mr. B.M. Birla, it was a leader in car sales until the 1980s, when the industry was opened up from protection. It began in Port Okha near Gujarat, and in 1948, moved to West Bengal. The Place is now Called Hindmotor.

Hindustan and General Motors have had several tie-ups in the post independence era to produce Bedford Trucks, Vauxhall Motors(1980 to 1990), Allison Transmissions and off-road equipment. In 1994, GM and Hindustan (C K Birla) formed a 50-50 joint venture, General Motors India to make Opel cars. GM bought out the Halol, Gujarat plant from Hindustan in 1999.

Hindustan Motor's [HM] Contessa is derived from General Motor's [UK] Vauxhall Victor whose design was shelved in Europe after 1978. HM picked it up in late 1985.

Cars manufactured by Hindustan Motors
Hindustan 10
Hindustan 14
HM Ambassador
HM Contessa
Vauxhall models
Opel Astra

5. Daewoo India: Daewoo India doesnt really belong here. But it will be sad if the contribution of Daewoo India goes unnoticed. Daewoo made Cielo, Nexia and the super successfull Matiz during its time at the Surajpur plant. Daewoo India was Daewoo's succesful units.

 When The company went under and was purchased by General Motors during its green time, the Indian plant was left to fend for itself. The subsidiary went bankrupt and the plant was later purchased by Argentum Motors.

Cars manufactured by Daewoo India

Daewoo Cielo
Daewoo Nexia
Daewoo Matiz

PS: Mahindra had various Jeeps in production under license. Since the vehicle is still under production after various updated it doesn't feature in this article. But since the Ambassador is here in its previous form, Mahindra does deserve a mention.

Sources:
http://www.team-bhp.com/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
Hari's Motor world