Indian automotive industry is one of the pillars of the economy at present. But there was a time when it was just a new industry. There were around 8 million cars on the road whereas the population of India was around 800 million. To boost this sector, the Indian Government encouraged new companies. One such was the Standard Motor Products of India Limited (SMPIL). And one of the most talked-about car from the company is Standard 2000. Let’s take a look at the history a bit.
1985 – Standard 2000 comes into production
Based on the British Rover SD1, Standard launched 2000 in India back in 1985. To be honest, it was the most luxurious car at that time but with a price bracket of ₹2,12,000. To give you a reference, the very well known HM Contessa used to cost around ₹84,000 at the same time. So, this car was costly.
Talking about the engine, Standard 2000 was powered by a 2.0-litre engine which could produce 83hp of power. Again for the reference, HM Contessa’s engine used to produce around 49hp of power. So the fastback was really fast considering that it was the first Indian production car to breach the barrier of 75hp power.
The engine was mated to a 4-speed manual transmission. People used to complain about the cranky gearbox a lot. The Standard 2000 was able to reach 145kmph of top speed.
Fun Fact: PT Usha, the queen of Indian track and field, was gifted a Standard 2000 by the Government of Kerala after she rose to the popularity and made the whole nation proud.
Talking about the luxury, it was equipped with electric windows, air conditioning, power steering and much more. Such features might be common today but were a luxury at that time.
Initially, Standard used to import the body panels from the UK and assemble the car here in Madras. But as time went past, the company started to produce them in-house and even export some of them.
Everything was great. Ministry of Industry had its hopes high. It thought that the Standard 2000 will be successful and help in bringing down the black market prices of imported cars. But then, What went so wrong that Standard 2000 remained in production for only 3 years?
Let’s find out!
The company lied! Standard lied about fuel efficiency. The company claimed mileage of 12-13kmpl but the car was not able to reach over 5-6kmpl. Another drawback was the poor build quality. A price tag of this much and low build quality was not a good thing at all.
Read more about HM Contessa | Hindustan’s very own Desi Muscle Car
The lying part on the fuel efficiency prompted legal action from the government and the Standard 2000 was not able to meet the then newly introduced fuel efficiency norms. So the company had to discontinue the car. In fact, this led to the closing of the factory of the company and the end of Standard Motors in India. This clearly states that Indian customers cannot be fooled easily. What are your thoughts on the Standard 2000? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Standard should have given the V8.
Back then the Standard 2000 car was owned by uber rich, i personally know few big shots in town owning it, when there was no benz or audi out there. What makes you think they are worried about mileage. “Kithna detha hai?”., with twice as much power as contessa and a 2 litre engine.
Ya we owned one…. As a kid first time I got introduced to power windows…. Magical times
standard was my school van (yes they had a van) and the standard 2000 i used to see 1 parked at a mechanic from the same van everyday!! times!
Is it worth to buy and restore one?