From Chhabria stables,designer kit for small car

Speaking about the new design customisation kits,he said it would cost anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh for Nano depending on the need of the customer. “First 50 redesigned Nanos will be delivered in January by Carnation and we expect to sell hundreds of kits every year. With the new tie-up,we are planning to scale up business since it’s a niche segment and there is a good demand,” he said.

Chhabria said the DC Design would ship design customisation kits to Carnation Auto,a company founded by former managing director of Maruti Suzuki (India) Limited Jagdish Khattar that would open 40-odd new multiple sale and service points across the country. “Other than Nano,through the Carnation shops,we will also roll out redesigned Maruti Swift,Toyota Innova and Honda City. We are also working on some new projects which will be announced soon,” he said.

For the Nano,only the exterior will go for a design makeover while the interiors will also be redesigned in Innova,which will come with a price tag of Rs 5 lakh. The design customisation kits for Swift has been priced at Rs 40,000 and for Honda City between Rs 65,000-75,000.

Chhabria,who is now working on some of the foreign projects from Japan and Europe,said the small projects will range between Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 lakh and bigger ones between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 4 crore. “We will unveil one of our new projects in the 2009 Auto Expo in New Delhi,” he said.

He is also planning to start a new design college next year with the aim of churning out designers talented enough to meet expectations from the growing auto industry.

“There are young talents who want to enter auto designing and there is also a demand from the auto industry for good designers. My aim is to bridge the gap by starting a design school,” he said.

The announcement on the new design institution is expected by January 5.