Nightmares Of The Indian Automotive Industry | Halloween Special!

October 31, 2022

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Halloween is coming up and we thought of something scary, terrifying rather. The Indian automotive industry has seen many failed products and we have compiled a fun list of these cars for you. Most of these cars were launched at a time when the market was pretty unexplored and there was no room for experimentation. However, these manufacturers still experimented and made some scary mistakes, which is okay. Here’s a list of 10 nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. PS – this blog is written with a pure heart that wants to have fun, no offense to the manufacturers of the owners of these cars is intended!

Mahindra Quanto

Back in the early 2010s, Mahindra was not known for making good-looking cars. Their SUVs were purely functional, borderline uncomfortable, and didn’t look good. One of these cars was the Mahindra Xylo, which was a 7-seater MVP. Well, the Xylo wasn’t half bad, but Mahindra went on and launched the Quanto. It was a smaller and cheaper alternative to the Xylo and it was a car that no one needed. Everything about this car was small but it was made to look big. The 1.5L diesel engine made around 100HP and was a nightmare to maintain. The cabin was uncomfortable and had very little space. Mahindra has come a long way since then. And it is one of India’s top-selling brands today!
Premier Rio

Next up on this list of nightmares of the Indian automotive industry is the Premier Rio. This car was treated like a joke to be very honest. Very, very few people bought this sub-compact SUV and it disappeared from the market too quickly. It was so underpowered that the most capable engine only produced 75HP! Yes, there were multiple engines on offer, 3 to be precise. A poor sales and service network was one of the primary reasons for this car to be unsuccessful.
Ashok Leyland Stile

We all know Ashok Leyland as a major player in the truck and bus market in India. They do it so well, but they weren’t satisfied. They wanted to enter the car market and decided to launch the Stile. It was an 8 seater MUV priced between Rs. 8-10 Lakhs. Imagine walking into a truck showroom looking for a car, not so good right? Well, this is why the Stile failed, no one recognized it as a buyable product and it didn’t sell well.
Hyundai Terracan

Hyundais are generally very lovable, but this one had managed to creep up on this list of nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. The Hyundai Terracan was a full-size SUV that terribly failed in India. It was not a nightmare because it was a bad car, it was just too expensive! A car priced above Rs. 20 Lakhs between 2005-2010 was highly unapproachable. Moreover, it was a Hyundai, a brand that was synonymous with being VFM and affordable because of the popular hatchback Santro. The Terracan on its own was a good car, it came with a powerful 3L diesel engine. However, it was just not right for India at the time.
Mahindra Verito

The Verito was Mahindra’s take on the Renault Logan, which was definitely one of the nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. This was probably the only time Mahindra experimented with a sedan, and they never went back. The Verito competed with cars like the Maruti Dzire and Ford Fiesta at the time and it stood nowhere near the competition. The ergonomics on this car were so vague, switches were all over the place and it was just not comfortable. Moreover, no one wanted to buy a sedan from Mahindra.
Maruti Suzuki A-Star

The Maruti Suzuki A-Star also makes it to this list of nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. It was a very decent car, to be frank, but there was no proper market for it at the time. It was placed in a very weird position where it competed with the Maruti Ritz and the Swift. It got a smaller 1L engine that made 66HP, and it also came with a 4-speed automatic gearbox. This was probably Maruti’s experimental car before they launched the Celerio.
Chevrolet Sail

image credits – TeamBHP

The Chevy Sail definitely needs to be on this list of nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. It was a pure nightmare to be in this car. It felt cheap inside out. There were 2 variants of the Sail, a sedan and a hatchback called the Sail-UVA. There were so many issues with these cars that owners were tired of the trips to service centers. The overall quality here was dodgy and it was a huge step down from other Chevy cars like the Optra and the SR-V.
Renault Lodgy

Another MVP that no one asked for was the Renault Lodgy. Although it was still better than the Stile, the Lodgy wasn’t much appreciated in the Indian market. It sold slightly better in the cab market, but only for a short time. The primary reason it couldn’t make it big was its design. It was too boxy for people to buy for personal use. However, it was a very comfortable and practical car. You might spot one on the roads even today!
Mahindra Reva

The only reason this car comes on this list of nightmares of the Indian automotive industry is the design and the timing. The concept of this car was amazing and way ahead of its time. It was a pure electric car that was just a little bit bigger than a scooter. It could fit 2 people and quietly run around the city. However, the design was visually unappealing and it was just too small. Buying the Reva for personal use didn’t make sense at the time because the only reason people would buy a car was to travel with family. And that was nowhere near possible in this car. Moreover, it costed around Rs. 5 Lakhs, which was absurd for a car of this size at the time.
DC Cars

DC Cars launched in India with a big bang and people were very excited about the designs. However, they soon turned out to be nightmares of the Indian automotive industry. These cars are a perfect example of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. These cars looked brilliant and sporty and people even went on to compare them with Ferraris. However, everything inside these cars was wrong, cheap, and ill-placed. The engines were bad, comfort was non-existent and prices were as high as Rs. 50 Lakhs!