In the Rearview Mirror

AS INDIA DRIVES ON TO BECOME ONE OF THE LARGEST AUTOMOTIVE MARKETS IN THE WORLD, A NEW BOOK REFLECTS UPON OUR FASCINATING JOURNEY ON FOUR WHEELS

- Srinivas Krishnan

THE AUTOMOBILE

An Indian Love Affair

By Gautam Sen

PENGUIN VIKING

At a time when Japan, South Korea and, of course, China had no automotive industry to speak of, India was already assembling Fords, Buicks, Chevrolets, Wolseleys and Morris cars, among others. In the 1930s, India was already the eighth-most important automotive market in the world, while Japan, for instance, manufactured a mere 500 cars in 1930. Since then, the automotive pecking order has been upended and is today dominated by China, followed by the US. While we have resumed our global position as a major automotive nation, the journey was far from smooth, but no less exciting.

Very soon after the first rudimentary automobiles started trundling around in Europe, Indian royalty acquired them, initially as playthings. Soon the automobile became an expression of their wealth and taste, leading to some of the greatest cars ever made and the most exemplary coachwork coming to India from the finest automotive marques— Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Talbot-Lago, Invicta, Farman and Delahaye. From then on, there was no looking back as the automobile transformed from novelty to utility. A large subcontinent like ours means everything is about scale, which is why manufacturing automobiles became a requisite. Today, the Indian auto industry contributes to a substantial seven per cent of our GDP. So, how did we get here?