The automobile industry has become a vital part of the Indian economy. But back in the days when the country got its independence, this industry was yet to be born. Those were the days when many carmakers tried to make a mark on the Indian customers. Some prevailed, some failed. One such company is the Meera Automobile and Engineering Industries Pvt. Ltd. which was based in Maharashtra. This company came up with a car called Meera Minicar.
1949 – First Prototype By Meera Automobile
We know that Tata Nano was the first mini car of India which was really affordable. But what many of us won’t have heard of is the Meera Minicar made by Meera Automobile.
In 1949, Shankarrao Kulkarni planned to build a car for the Indian masses which would cost just ₹12,000 at that time. The first prototype of the car arrived in 1949, which Kulkarni used to drive around in Mumbai. The Mini car was instantly drawing a lot of attention for being different than the normal cars at that time. The car was registered at the RTO with the registration number of MHK 1906.
1975 – Comes into production
By this year, Shankarrao had 5 models of the affordable Meera Mini car ready. That’s it. Only 5 models were ever built. Let’s have a look at the specifications first and then dwell into the reason for the failure of the Tata Nano of old times.
The Meera Mini Car was powered by a parallel twin 4-stroke engine capable of producing 19hp of power at around 4000rpm. The car was capable of covering around 19-20 kms in a single litre of fuel. The engine was mated to a transmission with 4 forward and one reverse gear. It was a three-door car with one door on the driver side and two on the other side.
This 4-seater, even after being cheap, was never sold. But why? Let’s have a look.
The failure of Meera Minicar
The major reason that the company was not able to sell the cars was the unpaid excise duties. But the history knows well that why was the company not able to achieve what Kulkarni had planned.
Shankarrao approached the Central Government with a plan to open a factory and wanted their support to set up a manufacturing plant. Had the government supported the Indian brand, we would have had the first mini car rolling on the roads. But with plans of merging Suzuki with the government’s very own favourite, Maruti made another kill at the automotive turf after Aravind automobiles.
Shankarrao had already spent around ₹50lakhs in research and development. So he had to give up his dream and settle with the last car registered with the number plate MHE 192.
If it was not about the Bureaucracy, Tata Nano would have had an ancestor and the story of the mini car in India might have been a lot different.
For what is visible, Tata Nano and the Meera Minicar had a lot in common. For instance, both had single wiper, rear-mounted engine, similar mileage and seating capacity. It is possible that the car would have given a tough competition to Maruti 800. But we will not be able to find that out until someone has a time machine. If you have a time machine or information on the piece of history, let us know in the comments section below.
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