Much before the IT boom changed the landscape of economic activity across the globe, it was a country’s automobile industry which displayed its might as an industrial and manufacturing powerhouse. Even now, as is evident by the shift in power centre from the West to the East, it is Japan, India, China and Korea with their Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Hyundai, Nissan, Maruti, Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra et al that are giving the big three of Detroit — GM, Ford and Chevrolet — and most of Europe a run for their money. More than any other manufacturing industry, automobiles are truly global now and India is a name to reckon with.

But the origins of this industry were rather humble and 60 years ago, as the country was coming to terms with its own independence, automobiles was a non-existent industry and nobody was thinking of changing that. The early years were the dark ages and extended for as long as two decades, 1947-1970 — for which there is record of production.

In the passenger car segment it was primarily the story of three companies — Hindustan Motors (the oldest surviving car-maker), Premier Auto and Standard Motor Products — all of which had a colonial hangover. While Hindustan Motor’s Ambassador, which was the first car to be manufactured in India in 1950, was based on UK’s Morris Oxford, Premier Auto had an association with Chrysler and then with the Italian major Fiat Spa. Standard was a subsidiary of UK’s Standard Motor Company, which entered India in 1948.

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