Indian Automobile Industry Less Known Fact
In past few years, India has become a leading Automobile industry. With more than hundreds of Carmakers providing over more than 150 models available in total thousands of variants make India one of the biggest car market on the globe. Today let us see some interesting facts you may or may not know about our Automobile Industry.
1. The First Car Made In India
The Hindustan Ambassador, holds this title. It was a rebadged version of Morris Oxford models. Over more than 70 years of history the Hindustan Ambassador paved roads for the Automobile industry in India. The Hindustan Motors built it at there plant in calcutta (now Kolkata). HM produced them through a technical collaboration with Morris Oxford. The first Hindustan Ambassador touched Indian roads back in 1957.
2. Who Was The First Indian To Own A Car ?
The first Indian to own a car was Grandfather of the most loved automaker Sir Ratan Tata. Jamshedji Tata owned a 2000 cc Bugatti back then. However talking about the first car to come in India belonged to British officer Mr Foster of Crompton Greaves. He got his car by 1897. And around the same time Jamshedji Tata became the first Indian to own a car.
3. First convertible in India
Indians got there first convertible back in 1965. Manufactured by the Standard Company in 1965. Earlier it was a CKD built. But the demand and craze lead to the birth of Standard Herald Hardtop convertible. The hood provided could be easily detached or folded. Consistently the open roof made it look stunning. This convertible was also featured in many of the popular movies of that time.
4. First motor sport event in India
The first recorded motorsport event took place back in 1904. To be precise it was held on 28th August 1904. Its said to be an endurance rally with a participation of 11 cars. It was held in kolkata (then Calcutta). It should be noted that these were 20% of all the cars present then in kolkata.
5. Maruti 800 and its first owner
The car that revolutionised the Indian automobile market is none other than Maruti 800. It was a small city car manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India. During its period a total 2.87 million 800s were produced. Mr Harpal Singh became the first to get ownership which he won through a lucky draw. The then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi handed over the first car to him.
6. Who built the first Jeep in India
Mahindra and Mahindra began producing Willys CJ3A jeep and became first to built jeep in India. It was in 1949, the company made its first ever off-roader. Mahindra built it at there Assembly Plant in Mazgaon, Bombay. It was the first off roader introduced to the Indian market.
7. First indigenous car of India
The country witnessed a uprising of the automobile industry with the launch of the first completely made in India car. In 1999, Tata Motors launched its Indica the fully indigenous car for the country. Indica become very popular among the Indian mass. It was truly desi car made form scratch in India.
8. Which was the first Indian electric car
In recent years, electric vehicles are in steady demand. Many automakers have shift there focus on electric cars. Indians have hyped the entry of Tesla in Indian markets but do you know about the first Indian electri car ? Chetan Maini made the first electric car in India. Back in 2004, Maini Reva was introduced to India. Though it haven’t done well in its home ground India. Besides Reva had better sale number in UK. Chetan Maini designed and built it in Banglore.
9. First Indian Formula one driver
The first Indian to drive in the Formula one is Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan. In 2010, he was also awarded with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour given by the Government of India. Driving for Jordan, Narain Karthikeyan made his debut in 2005
10. Leading Automobile Industry
Currently there are over 30 million cars on the Indian roads. As of 2019, India is the 4th largest passenger vehicles manufacturer. Accordingly 4.06 million Cars were produced in the year 2018-2019. It is also the leading manufacturers of Two-wheeler over the globe. Indian Automobile Industry is seen getting a healthy growth. And all these numbers are expected to grow with coming days.
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