- India's pre-eminent auto designer plans to unveil a midengine sports car this week at the biennial Auto Expo show.
- Dilip Chhabria's DC Design has posted a teaser image on its Web site.
- The company is considering low-volume production, beginning in late 2013, with prices starting from around $56,000.
NEW DELHI — Dilip Chhabria, India's pre-eminent auto designer, will unveil a midengine sports car this week at the biennial Auto Expo show here.
The as-yet-unnamed two-seater is expected to feature a turbocharged V6 sourced from Honda, producing around 400 horsepower.
Chhabria's Mumbai-based DC Design wants to put the car in limited production by late 2013, with prices starting from around $56,000.
Announcing the car ahead of the show, Chhabria said, "It will offer the looks, feel, dimensions, quality and fit and finish comparable to supercars from Lamborghini and Ferrari, minus the horsepower."
Chhabria attended California's Art Center and worked for General Motors Design before establishing DC Design in India in 1993.
Since then, DC Design has created a number of distinctive concepts and prototypes, and has worked with a number of global manufacturers.
Inside Line says: Although the projected price tag is well below those of fancy European sports cars, local media outlets already are referring to Chhabria's project as "India's first supercar."
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says:
02:57 PM, 01/03/2012
Watch somebody drives this at 150~ mph and the car falls apart. lol.
smallfield says:
12:13 PM, 01/03/2012
400hp isn't too shabby for a 56K mid engine "super car".
I'd get the no name car if it is 5-10x cheaper with similar deliverables. I almost dislike the brand images of the faster cars anyways. Done right this could be a next gen NSX equivalent.
That said - there's good cause for a 458's cost. Carbon fiber and other light pieces don't come cheap. Handling tunes take time, money and experience. I'm thinking Mustang performance out of this, not Porsche, Lambo or Ferrari.
lowprofile says:
09:34 AM, 01/03/2012
You KNOW it's going to be super when they use a photoshop lens flare like that in their PR material!
autoadviseorg says:
09:04 AM, 01/03/2012
There is a huge problem here. The BRIC countries are the growing to become the largest consumers of luxury goods and there is a lot of Brand conscious within the consumers. Trying to be another Indian Ferrari is simply not going to cut it as those who want cheaper cars will probably get a nice new beemer and flash it. They should target Acura NSX and Nissan GTR or even the Mazda Miata minus the horsepower and try to capture that market first, gain respect and a fan base before marching to the big boys. People even like to flash their Ferrari caps and watches. The logo has respect and brand loyalty.
shakey5 says:
08:50 AM, 01/03/2012
If they're going to build a Lotus type car, they should just buy Lotus from Malaysia.