Dilip Chhabria - Break The Rules

Identity. Something we all crave to have; something we dare boast off; something that reflects more about one’s personality than popularity; something that we tend to immediately associate with. It may be a person or a brand. Apple as a product has an identity. Narendra Modi has an identity, though a debatable one, still! We tend to attain that either by exceling in a field of work/profession or by innovative actions that bring about a positive change to the people/system that we are part of.

Automobiles too have the ambitious task of making an identity among people and itself. Couple of Indian cars that could have but did not make the cut are the Nano and Reva. But that does not prevent Tata and Mahindra from giving it a second try to make it worth the R&D spent on these babies. But I have always believed in how cars, infact any product, are viewed over a period of time. And that’s where Maruti Suzuki has scored well. When you take the Indian scenario, no player has understood the need of the people here than this Japanese. But on a more global scale, the idea of Maruti Suzuki dominating Indian market is lesser known. Tata Motors (and Mahindra & Mahindra also to an extent) is what rules India if you are a foreigner.  When you think of it, M&M got widely noticed when REVA came into the scene. Tata got the glamorous tag when it bought Jaguar Land Rover and even more popular for bringing in the world’s “cheapest” car. Well as much as the world would love to use a low cost, easy to use, kind on the pocket vehicle, the general discussion about the 1lakh car seemed to be more about the cheap quality of plastics, the questionable safety features and poverty stricken built-in features. The car was primarily built for India. None of these are a problem for the two-wheeler to four-wheeler transitioned owners for whom a low cost car is itself a big bargain. Poor marketing and bad strategy did not only let the most hyped car in Indian history go down as a bad inning, but it also left a black mark on Tata Motors as a brand; And hence ended India’s only leverage to the international world of motoring.

The Mastermind - Dilip Chhabria

But the Desi motor world does not stop with Tata and M&M like how majority of the population tend to think of. There are also couple of other one-off makers and startup companies here of which one stands out more than all the others. DC Design. No this aint the superhero DC comics. This is Dilip Chhabria DC.

What they do….

         -  Automobile consultants/Designers for auto companies

         -  Produce their own one-off production vehicles

         -  Take an existing good looking car and make it look as swanky, bling, luxurious and anything more as you’d like.

        -  Maintain and run a design school, DC-DYP for exploring, what is anyday, one of the most untapped areas of study in India

The big daddy got the bling factor now!

Who is he and what qualification does he have. Well he’s got the degrees and papers.. And is bloody brilliant at what he does. Proof?? James Bond. Die Another Day. Aston Martin Prototype – courtesy DC. DC Design also revealed their 25L super/sportscar. The DC Avanti. Gorgeous as it looks, this is one car that if handled with enough subtlety and proper marketing, has the genes to go global and sit beside the likes of its Italian counterparts.

VW Polo & Renault Duster - Who would have thought!!

Considered as the Father of Car modifications, this design genius has taken the task of car modification and reinvention to an alien level. Although some of the mod jobs are too extensive to my taste, there is no denying the fact that he can virtually change the image of your car, irrespective of what you own. Who on earth would dare take an old Hindustan Ambassador and steroid it to produce what they’d like to call the ‘Ambierod’. Following the appreciation he received, he decided to make a good business by taking other popular vehicles and giving it the DC touch. Note that he chose to work on the Innova, Fortuner and Duster than a Yeti or Captiva. DC realized that the numbers would turn out to be better if the raw material to work on was an already proven and rewarded automobile.  Well played DC. And of course, an insane Lamborghini Aventador also did get the DC makeover. \m/ 

An Innova - Post DC Makeup

All that said, his language of design ain’t that very pleasing to all if you intend to purchase their full-on vehicle. It certainly lacks the Indian touch. It is completely unorthodox and unless there are buyers who like this style, I’d doubt if DC will get the sympathetic getting used to tag for their not so elegant vehicles. I do not know how to explain. It just looks odd; disproportionate sometimes; incompletely flowing. But it is clearly out of the box though. DC has a clear reputation in the field internationally and that will certainly help when the company decides to go large scale.

DC Designed aint that pleasing for the Indian eye!

DC Avanti - Oh she's a beauty

What we have right now is a Desi who thinks big, got the right contacts, and the stuff to match. He’s got an identity and I hope that one day, the world will tend to relate him to India as well. The brand DC is not as popular as Dilip Chhabria himself, but expect it to go overboard if the right products click in the near future. Expect anything from a PlayStation to a Coffeemaker to fit in any car with ease. I do not know how profitable it is for DC Design financially, but if the recent jaw-dropping 3.5 Lakh modification on offer for the Renault Duster is anything to go by, the modification market is certain to pick up and DC Design is assured to be the next big thing.