Dilip Chhabria is moving beyond designing fab cars. He now also wants to assemble some and sell these in India, of course with his trademark design stamp on each vehicle.
Dilip Chhabria’s DC:S to be priced at Rs 25 lakh
NEW DELHI: Dilip Chhabria is moving beyond designing fab cars. He now also wants to assemble some and sell these in India, of course with his trademark design stamp on each vehicle.
So, some months down the line, you could buy a ‘DC:S’ Super Car, for just about Rs 25 lakh.
This car has taken 50,000 man hours to design and Chhabria plans to invest Rs 50-60 crore to set up an assembly facility at Pune for making 300 units of DC:S in a year. He says the engine, brake assembly, suspension etc for the Super Car would be imported and only the chassis, body, interiors and lighting would be done by his company, Dilip Chhabria Design.
The car would be a 3-litre, twin turbo charged vehicle which can attain a top speed of 305 km per hour and goes from 0 to 62 kmph in just 3.7 seconds.
Chhabria says he wants to cater to the niche market of sports enthusiasts and youngsters, but the small order (only 300 cars in one year) also serves another purpose: in markets such as the UK and Germany, if less than 300 numbers of any car have been produced it qualifies for single vehicle certification.
This would be DC Design’s second attempt at reaching out to the masses - in 2001, Chhabria had set up some franchisee outlets where car owners could get face lifts for their existing vehicles. But this venture was soon closed down due to lack of customer response.
This time, the designer is more cautious. “We are unveiling the Super Car at the upcoming Auto Expo and will gauge customer reaction before deciding to go ahead with the project,” he said.
Not only the DC:S, Chhabria is also showcasing the ‘Ambierod’, a retro futuristic luxury car based on the look of the Ambassador.
DC Design is primarily a car design firm, which designs cars for OEMs as well as individuals in India and abroad. Chhabria owns 75% of the company’s equity, Jardine Fleming holds a little less than 10% while the remaining rests with financial institutions and private equity players.
b_sindhu@dnaindia.net
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