Sipani Automobiles | There was an attempt

The automobile industry was still in its initial phase. There were only two prominent companies, Hindustan Motors and Premier. Tata and Mahindra were more into commercial vehicles. Maruti Suzuki was yet to come. Sipani Automobiles Ltd. came into the spotlight. How? and When? Let’s have a look.

1973 – Sunrise Automotive Industries Ltd.

R.K Sipani obtained the license for automobile manufacturing in 1973, one of the only three to get it. So, he set up an automotive manufacturing company in Bangalore, Karnataka under the name of Sunrise Automotive Industries Ltd. (SAIL). This name was later changed to Sipani Automobiles Ltd. in 1978. The company manufactured small cars that were not very popular at all. Let’s take a look at all the cars offered by the carmaker.

1. Sipani Badal

   

   You must remember the three-wheeled car from ‘Mr Bean’ which used to always topple due to the guy. Well, India had its own Reliant Robin. Sipani Badal was the one. The production of the car started in 1976. It was a three-wheeled unusual looking car that was powered by a small 198cc engine which used to produce 9.8hp of power. The engine was rear-mounted and used to power the rear wheels. The Badal was not able to take off in the market. The company was able to sell 179 units in 1977, whereas the demand increased to 331 units in the next year. By the following year, the demand fell to a mere 104 Badals. By 1981, only 51 were sold and the next year, 31. It was discontinued after this as there was no demand for an autorickshaw turned car.

2. Sipani Dolphin

   

   In 1982, Sipani after the failure of Badal decided to give the Indian audience a better thing to remember. This is when Dolphin comes. Powered by an 848cc engine capable of producing 38hp of power, the fibreglass body car was fast. And so was pretty well-received too. But this success was short-lived too. Indian customers were not ready to put their trust and money on plastic bodies as competitors were giving out completely solid cars. In the first year, Sipani sold 126 Dolphins while this number rose to 302 by the next year. 1984 saw a good demand with 930 Dolphins being sold. Then the graph started going down with 523 cars in 1985, 55 in 1986 and 40 in 1987. It was discontinued in 1987. Despite being successful in the motorsport, Maruti 800 made it a no-go for the customers.

3. Sipani Montana

   

   With the demise of Dolphin, the company had to come up with something to compete with the 800. Montana was made in order to do so. The design of Dolphin was made more square in shape and a larger rear overhang was given to it. Montana diesel had also been launched in 1989. This mill was capable of producing 25hp @ 2,700rpm. Even though being more successful than Dolphin, the car was not able to compete with the king of the roads, Maruti 800. Sipani Montana used to give a little glimpse of the 800 as many of the parts were sourced from the competitor itself. Yet another car failed from the manufacturer.  But R.K. Sipani was in no mood to give up.

4. Sipani D-1

   

   Another attempt to take on the arc rivals, Sipani launched D-1 or the Montana D-1. It was powered by a 1.5-litre diesel engine which produced 40hp of power. It was a 5-door hatchback that also borrowed a lot of parts from Maruti and Mahindra. This car also met the same fate as the others. There’s no official record of when the car was discontinued.
   Have a look: 10 Super UNUSUAL Cars that ever existed in India

5. Sipani Montego

   

   Rover Montego, one of the most advanced cars of that time. The sedan was brought into India via CKD route by R.K. Sipani after the liberalisation of the market. The sedan was powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. It was laden with features like power steering, power windows and air-conditioning were standard features in the sedan. All this led to the price tag of ₹10 lakhs at that time. In 1995, 236 cars were produced by the company while in the next 15 months only 51 were sold. So the company failed with luxury too and the last attempt too.

Know the difference: CBU (Complete Built-Up) vs CKD (Completely Knocked Down) vs SKD (Semi Knocked Down)

Finally, Adios! 

R.K. Sipani’s ambition to make a mark in the Indian automobile industry was never able to take shape in reality. Sipani Automobiles was defuncted in 2002. 29 years of struggle led to nothing but a name in the history of some of the failed attempts.

Another one: Premier Rio | A Failed Rebadged Chinese Car