If you admired the Aston Martin Vanquish which
James Bond drove in Die Another Day, then you
must feel proud of the fact that it was designed
by an Indian. So, Dilip Chhabria, who started off
as an auto designer in 1993, is on his way to
becoming a niche auto manufacturer. Avanti His firm DC Design, renowned in the industry for
concept cars and prototypes, plans to raise
around Rs 60 crore through debt and equity in
the next three months to fuel the expansion
plans of its sports-car venture, Avanti. We aim to become a niche car maker and hence
we have launched Avanti, a luxury Indian sports-
car. We are in talks with a few private equity
players, both domestic and international.
However, we want to create more value so that
we dilute less, Chhabria said. Avanti would be the first sports car to be
designed and manufactured in India. The cars
prototype has been showcased at the 11th Auto
Expo last month and has been priced at Rs 25
lakh, Chhabria said. We already have got a good number of booking
applications and plan to roll out 300 Avanti cars
in the first year itself. It will be manufactured in
the Talegaon facility early next year, and will be
delivered around October next year. The reason
behind making a sports-car was that none of the Indian auto makers have thought about its
potential, he said. Annual production DC Design already has three manufacturing units
in Pune, with an annual production of just 500
cars per annum. The company plans to ramp up
the number to 1,000 this year. At present, the
company makes car accessories and also multi-
ultility vehicles (MPVs), which range from Rs 6-60 lakh. However, the company declined to give out
any other financial details. Chhabria, who studied transportation design in
California, used to customise vanity vans for
Bollywood stars, and graduated to design and
manufacture luxury cars for high networth
individuals (HNIs). The company also plans to
open its own outlets by this year-end .
http://thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3958584.ece/
James Bond drove in Die Another Day, then you
must feel proud of the fact that it was designed
by an Indian. So, Dilip Chhabria, who started off
as an auto designer in 1993, is on his way to
becoming a niche auto manufacturer. Avanti His firm DC Design, renowned in the industry for
concept cars and prototypes, plans to raise
around Rs 60 crore through debt and equity in
the next three months to fuel the expansion
plans of its sports-car venture, Avanti. We aim to become a niche car maker and hence
we have launched Avanti, a luxury Indian sports-
car. We are in talks with a few private equity
players, both domestic and international.
However, we want to create more value so that
we dilute less, Chhabria said. Avanti would be the first sports car to be
designed and manufactured in India. The cars
prototype has been showcased at the 11th Auto
Expo last month and has been priced at Rs 25
lakh, Chhabria said. We already have got a good number of booking
applications and plan to roll out 300 Avanti cars
in the first year itself. It will be manufactured in
the Talegaon facility early next year, and will be
delivered around October next year. The reason
behind making a sports-car was that none of the Indian auto makers have thought about its
potential, he said. Annual production DC Design already has three manufacturing units
in Pune, with an annual production of just 500
cars per annum. The company plans to ramp up
the number to 1,000 this year. At present, the
company makes car accessories and also multi-
ultility vehicles (MPVs), which range from Rs 6-60 lakh. However, the company declined to give out
any other financial details. Chhabria, who studied transportation design in
California, used to customise vanity vans for
Bollywood stars, and graduated to design and
manufacture luxury cars for high networth
individuals (HNIs). The company also plans to
open its own outlets by this year-end .
http://thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3958584.ece/
